Biotechnologies: Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources (BIO 430-4230H/530, FS 430-430H/530)

Lecture Readings

Required Text:
Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food
by Pamela C. Ronald and Raoul W. Adamchak
Oxford University Press; ISBN: 978-0-19-530175-5
To order - Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food

Required readings
The main readings given below are required readings for mid-term and final. Emphasis in exams will be on familiarity with concepts, and example crops and issues, not technical details of genes, acres, etc. Look at old exams to get a better idea of the level of information needed. When it says "peruse only" you are responsible only for knowing what the document was about, which you can get from scanning the summary, section headings, figures, and tables. You do not need to read the text, but you will need to have scanned the article for 2-3 minutes.

Week	Date	Topic	Readings	Text
THE BASICS
1	Mar 31	Class organization, rationale, goals. GMO status, regulations, and gene science basics.	Current data on world GMO crop usage Nature Biotech 2008 Peruse only: Agricultural Biotechnology: The GMO Debate	Forward, intro
	Mar 31 (Rec)	Gene and genome basics	Schouten Jacobsen Are mutations dangerous 2007 Peruse only: Any text on basic gene and genome concepts, PCR
	Apr 2	Plant genetic engineering methods	Natl Geog overview GMO crops 2003	Ch. 4
2	Apr 7	Animal breeding and genomics	Animal Breeding Review Cal Ag Biotech 2006 Video overview of animal biotechnology (Downloadable, to be shown in class)	Ch. 6
	Apr 7 (Rec)	Anti-GMO views: What and why	Sierra Club Genetic Engineering Report 2001
	Apr 9	Animal biotechnology, cloning, rBST for milk production	Animal biotech overview Nat Biotech 2005 Peruse only: Capper et al. rbST environmental impact in dairy PNAS 2008 Dolly Cloning Overview Nat Biotech 2007 Dairy and cancer review Parodi 2005 rGBH meta-analysis Dohoo 2003
3	Apr 14	Origins of agriculture, plant domestication, conventional breeding	Evolution, consequences and future of plant and animal domestication Diamond 2002 Green Revolution: Curse or Blessing? IFPRI 2002 Peruse only: Plant domestication Balter Science 2007	Ch. 1
	Apr 14 (Rec)	Forest trees and GMO issues: A case study	El-Lakany 2004 GM trees a threat? Unasylva 2004 Sederoff Regulatory Sci Forest Biotech 2007 Peruse only: GM Trees the Ultimate Threat ISIS 2005
	Apr 16	Patents and IP protection for plants	Acceptable intellectual property - Hilgartner Patents, seed saving, and legal actions against farmers - Jones, p. 5-7 Schmeiser and Monsanto Science 2004 Peruse only: Crop Scientists Say Biotechnology Seed Companies Are Thwarting Research, New York Times, 2009 - 19 February 2009 IP and developing world editorial Beachy 2003	Ch. 10 and 11
4	Apr 21	Toxicology basics	Peruse only: Pollution gets personal - Science, 2004
	Apr 21 (Rec)	Biomonitoring of environmental chemicals	Paustenbach_biomonitor Env Health Perspect 2006
	Apr 23	Natural toxins in food and environment	Biodiversity: Its Importance to Human Health
5	April 28	Regulating GMOs, chemicals and pesticides	Science record on GMO crop issues Lemaux 2008 Res & regulation pesticides 50 yrs J Ag Food Chem, 2002 Understanding the Role of Science in Regulation Peruse only: McHughen Regulation GM Crops 2006 Lemaux part II Env Sci record GM crops 2009	Ch. 5 and 7
	April 28 (Rec)	Bisphenol A and Scientific Uncertainty	The Toxic Origins of Disease 2007
	April 30	Food allergens, mycotoxins, and the saga of Star-Link corn	Starlink corn: a risk analysis Bt crops and mycotoxin reduction ISB 2008 Peruse only: Are bt crops safe? 2003 Shelton-InsectResisCropMgt-NatBiotech-2005
6	May 5	Playing God? GMOs, miracles, and monsters	Opposition to transgenic technologies: ideology, interests and collective action frames 2008 God and the New Foodstuffs 2007 Peruse Only: Herring Why is the "Failure of Bt Cotton in India" Story Still with Us? AgBioForum 2009
	May 5 (Rec)	Videos!	See instructions under grading.
	May 7	Risk assessment of chemicals	The safety of GM foods produced through biotechnology Soc Toxicol Posit Paper 2003 Registering Skepticism - Env Health Perspec 2006 Peruse only: Paracelsus to parascience: the environmental cancer distraction
7	May 12	MIDTERM - in class
	May 12 (Rec)	Risk perception	Is repugnance wise? Nat Biotech 2004 Risk perception and GMO foods 2005 Peruse only: Slovic Trust Risk 1999 Checker_RiskAssessment_Justice_2007
ISSUES AND CASE STUDIES
	May 14	Sustainable agriculture	Miller Sustain Ag 2008 Peruse only: Jordan et al. Sustain Developm Science 2007 Agricultural sustainability and intensive production practices Nature 2002 Diversity in food technology editorial Nature 2003	Ch. 8
8	May 19	Organically certified agriculture	Tester Tomorrow's Table Book Rev Science 2008 Science: Organic and GM Why Not? 2008 Organic Food Review 2006 Organic Crop Production Overview (pages 1-8 through "integrity"; 23, summary only; boxes on pp. 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22) Peruse only: Organic food and farming Q and A Organics definition/exclusion of GMOs	Ch. 2 and 3
	May 19 (Rec)	Pesticides and amphibians	Center BioDiv Pesticide Mixtures 2009 Reeves Roundup Health Concerns 2009 Peruse only: Blaustein Amphibian Decline Div Distrib 2003 Feminization of male frogs Nature 2002
	May 21	Gene flow and adventitious presence	Review of glyphosate resistant crops p. 1-5 Glyp resist weed Science 2007 SpreadGMRice-ScienceMag-2006 Peruse only: SyngentaGaffBtCorn-NatBiotech-2005 Mallory-Smith et al 2008	Ch. 9
9	May 26	Bioreactor crops	Is the drought over for pharming? Science 2008 On risk & plant-based biopharmaceuticals Trends Biotech 2004 Peruse only: Arntzen Using tobacco to treat cancer Science 2008 Marvier Pharma crops with mixed outlook in California 2007 Protecting the Food Supply - Executive Summary Union Conc Scientists 2003
	May 26 (Rec)	Golden rice and humanitarian/developing world issues	Dueling Visions at IAASTD - Science 2008 Golden rice commentary BioSci 2005 Miller Activism in time of cholera 2008 Peruse only: Margolis Crops with Attitude Newsweek 2008
	May 28	Ethical evaluations	CAST Ag Ethics 2005 Switzerland and plant rights Wall St. Journal 2008 New Nuffield Ethics report summary, pp. xxiii-xx - GMOs for the developing world
10	June 2	Nanotechnology and toxicology	What is nanotechnology Priorities for nano-risk R and D Science 2006 Getting nanotechnology right the first time
	June 2 (Rec)	Q and A and review session for final exam	No required readings or lecture today. Review all required and "peruse only" class readings for the entire class, and review prior exams and answer keys, to get ready for final. We will respond to questions.
	June 4	Panels: Should food from GE crops or cloned animals be labeled?	Labeling genetically modified foods: Communicating or creating confusion? Cloned animal labeling Nature Biotech 2008 Peruse only: Flies in the soup labeling Nat Biotech 2004	Ch. 12
11	June 11	Final exam - 12:00 - 1:30 PM