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Seeds for economically important crops are big business indeed. As large seed companies continue to improve their product in various ways, they make use of the original gene pools of these plants, often located in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. With increasing recognition that plant germplasm is an important raw material, highly charged international disputes have developed over the exchange and use of this material, adding another point of contention between poor nations and the manufacturing wealthier ones. Twenty experts from several nations, representing both the natural and social sciences, consider the historical background, the issue of patent rights as applied to plant germplasm, the nature of global genetic interdependence, the internationalization of the seed industry, the implications of biotechnology on genetic resources, the Third World attitude toward the debate, and the viewpoints of the International Agricultural Research Centers.
Recent decades have seen tremendous changes in Latin America's agricultural sector, resulting from a broad program of liberalization instigated under pressure from the United States, the IMF, and the World Bank. Tariffs have been lifted, agricultural markets have been opened and privatized, land reform policies have been restricted or eliminated, and the perspective has shifted radically toward exportation rather than toward the goal of feeding local citizens. Examining the impact of these transformations, the contributors to Food for the Few: Neoliberal Globalism and Biotechnology in Latin America paint a somber portrait, describing local peasant farmers who have been made responsible for p...
This thoughtful and engaging text challenges the widely held notion of science as somehow outside of society, and the idea that technology proceeds automatically down a singular and inevitable path. Through specific case studies involving contemporary debates, this book shows that science and technology are fundamentally part of society and are shaped by it. Draws on concepts from political sociology, organizational analysis, and contemporary social theory. Avoids dense theoretical debate. Includes case studies and concluding chapter summaries for students and scholars.
This contributed volume provides an in-depth overview of current social and socio-political transformations in Europe and their effects on social work and its educational structures. It elucidates these transformations and structures at the individual level of ten different countries and goes on to elaborate a European perspective in this field. Readers gain insight into the variety in social work and its educational structures in Europe and, at the same time, readers receive starting points for the exchange of ideas, collaboration and further development in the individual countries and in Europe. The introduction outlines the current developments and challenges facing social work education ...
With the ever rising demand for meat around the world, the production of meat has changed dramatically in the past few decades. What has brought about the increasing popularity and attendant normalization of factory farms across many parts of the world? What are some of the ways to resist such broad convergences in meat production and how successful are they? This book locates the answers to these questions at the intersection between the culture, science and political economy of meat production and consumption. It details how and why techniques of production have spread across the world, albeit in a spatially uneven way. It argues that the modern meat production and consumption sphere is th...
In Seeding Empire, Aaron Eddens rewrites an enduring story about the past--and future--of global agriculture. Eddens connects today's efforts to cultivate a "Green Revolution in Africa" to a history of American projects that introduced capitalist agriculture across the Global South. Expansive in scope, this book draws on archival records of the earliest Green Revolution projects in Mexico in the 1940s and 1950s, as well as interviews at development institutions and agribusinesses working to deliver genetically modified crops to millions of small-scale farmers across Africa. From the offices of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the halls of the world's largest agricultural biotechnology companies to field trials of hybrid maize in Kenya, Eddens shows how the Green Revolution fails to address global inequalities. Seeding Empire insists that eradicating hunger in a world of climate crisis demands thinking beyond the Green Revolution.
A fascinating collection of essays, this study analyzes the issue of property rights, the growing private possession of life and ideas, and the erosion of human rights as a result. From a wide range of experts and specialists, the breadth of topics discussed include genetically engineered crops, patented computer programs, harvesting of human cells, and the exploitation of biodiversity including the use of molecules and atoms for private profit. From court cases on individuals seeking the property rights to their own spleen cells to corporations securing the rights to breast cancer genes, this timely and topical collection will be of interest to anyone wanting to know more about the future of patents, science, and the modern world.
With its comprehensive, global coverage of all aspects of diagnosis, screening, and treatment in both adults and children, Firestein & Kelley's Textbook of Rheumatology remains your reference of choice in this evolving field. The fully revised 12th Edition retains the user-friendly, full color format, providing in-depth guidance in rheumatology with an ideal balance of basic science and clinical application. New editors, new chapters, and new illustrations keep you fully up to date on recent advances in genetics and the microbiome, current therapies, and other rapid changes in the field. - Covers everything from basic science, immunology, anatomy, and physiology to diagnostic tests, procedur...