Recoding Nature: Critical Perspectives on Genetic Engineering

The book addresses some fundamental and profound questions such as: Are GM foods safe to eat? What do consumers think about GM foods and, alternatively, organic produce? What are the real risks of genetic pollution? And is it appropriate to delete a supposed gene for sadness? 'Recoding Nature' challenges the assumptions of those preparing the world for a ‘recoded’ DNA future.

‘As we face the threats of genetic engineering in the shadow of a climate change catastrophe, poet Wendell Berry reminds us, ‘Thine life is a miracle, think again.’ Think again, for it is imperative to replace the destructive, mechanistic and instrumental view of life with the truly organic and miraculous. Let’s hope this book…will make us think again.’ From the Foreword by Mae-Wan Ho

Geoffrey Lawrence is Professor of Sociology and Head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Queensland. Previously Executive Director of the Institute for Sustainable Regional Development at Central Queensland University (CQU), he is an Emeritus Professor of CQU.

Recoding Nature is at the cutting edge of critical reflection about the ‘biotechnology revolution’, the redesign of nature through genetically modified plants, animals and even designer humans.The book addresses some fundamental and profound questions:

• Are GM foods safe to eat?

• What do consumers think about GM foods and, alternatively, organic produce?

• What are the real risks of genetic pollution?

• Is it appropriate to delete a supposed gene for sadness?

• Where did the idea of the DNA code come from, and how is it shaping thought for a genetics future?

• Why has commercial release of GM canola been approved when all canola-growing States have declared moratoriums?

• Does the biomedical approach really offer the way forward in health care?

• Are there genes for crime, or is this just an illusion?

• What about the prospects of corporate bioprospecting among Indigenous peoples?

• And why have large grass-roots movements in Asia surfaced to contest the notion that GM foods will feed the hungry?

In fourteen essays by Australian and New Zealand writers critiquing the new biology, and with a stimulating foreword by Mae-Wan Ho – the UK scientist leading a global attack on genetic engineering as ‘bad science’ – Recoding Nature challenges the assumptions of those preparing the world for a ‘recoded’ DNA future.

Foreword

1. Recoding Nature: Deciphering the Script
2. Organics Ascendant: Curious Resistance to GM
3. Beyond the Lab! Precautionary Weakness
4. Gene Flow and Genetically Engineered Crops
5. Is GM Food Safe to Eat?
6. Consumer Views of Organic and GM Food
7. Moving from GM Organisms to Organic Farming
8. Deleting Sadness? Clones and Designer Babies
9. Human Genomics and Health Care: Questioning the Biomedical Approach
10. Your_Health@DNAtailored.com
11. Genes for Crime: Do They Fit?
12. Tradition and Test Tubes: Maori and GM
13. At Issue: Biotechnology and Australian Indigenous Flora
14. Resistance in Asia: Voices of the People’s Caravan