Subj:         essay on ecology and genetics  available
Date:   01-06-05 08:15:23 EDT
From:   [log in to unmask] (Laurel Hopwood)
Sender: [log in to unmask] (Biotech Forum)
Reply-to:   [log in to unmask] (Biotech Forum)
To: [log in to unmask]

The 52-page "Ecology and Genetics: An Essay on the Nature of Life and the
Problem of Genetic Engineering" is a great read.  It advances a hypothesis
that ecosystems influence genes (such as the color of tree bark leading to
the genetically coded camouflage color of a moth), but also that a species'
genes shape its ecosystem (like the genetically encoded propensity of
plants to yield oxygen leading to an oxygen rich atmosphere affecting
animal life).  I found it to be an interesting and valuable extension of
basic evolutionary biology reflecting a relationship between genes and the
environment that has not been thoroughly examined in the popular media.

Author Arjun Makhijani of the Institute for Energy and Environmental
Research writes, "Ecosystems as such tend to be actively reproduced by the
living beings in them."  Hence, transgenetic manipulations of plants or
animals will lead to those creatures altering the environment.  The booklet
describes, in comprehensible terms, concerns regarding the potential
ecological impacts of genetic engineering and the inability of scientists
erroneously making a "one-gene, one function" assumption to assess
ecosystem effects.

Friends of the Earth has obtained 250 copies of the booklet and is making
them available at cost.  If you are interested, please send a check written
to "Friends of the Earth" for $8.95 per copy (includes shipping - add
another $1.00 for international shipments).

Mail the check to:
Friends of the Earth
c/o Lisette Singer
1025 Vermont Ave. NW Floor 3
Washington DC 20005

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