The ecological risks of engineered crops /

Based in part on a 1991 National Wildlife Federation-supported experts' workshop, this expanded version of an earlier report by Rissler, Perils Amidst the Promise: Ecological Risks of Transgenic Crops in a Global Market (1993), highlights the potential problems associated with the large-scale release of transgenic (genetically engineered) plants into the environment and, more importantly, recommends a feasible, experimentally based protocol for identifying those transgenic crops most likely to have an adverse ecological impact, either by becoming weeds or transferring engineered genes to weeds. In addition, the book briefly discusses the nature of transgenic crops, their potential commercial value and relationship to modern agriculture, and the global risks associated with worldwide seed distribution of such crops. Specific regulatory and public action recommendations complete the book. The authors, both members of the Union of Concerned Scientists, write in a straightforward, albeit sometimes dry, style. This book is largely accessible to readers with limited biology backgrounds, unlike M. Levin and H. Strauss's Risk Assessment in Genetic Engineering (CH, Nov'91), which is a more encompassing collection of highly scientific reviews that considers potential ecological disruptions by transgenic microorganisms as well as plants. Undergraduates; graduates. W. R. Morgan College of Wooster

This book is an enlargement of the authors' earlier work, Perils Amidst the Promise: The Ecological Risks of Transgenic Plants in a Global Market (Union of Concerned Scientists, 1993). Rissler and Mellon, who hold staff positions in the UCS, acknowledge that applications of biotechnology in crops are already a commercial reality, and they do not oppose genetic engineering as a component of agriculture as a whole. Instead, they discuss a list of hypothetical harmful consequences of transgenic plants and suggest risk assessment methodology for two of these situations. Although part of the book's purpose is to generate public debate on the issues, the authors unfortunately do not present details of opposing viewpoints. For environment and agriculture collections.‘Jan Williams, Monsanto Co., St. Louis, Mo. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.