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 quizzes, the mid-term, and the final. For quizzes, you are responsible
for the readings assigned up to and including the day of the quiz. Emphasis in quizzes and 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 to get the main points of what it's about.
| Week | Date | Topic | Readings | Text |
| 1 | Mar 30 | Class organization, rationale, goals. GMO and TOX issues | Forward, intro | |
| Mar 31 (Rec) | No class meeting: Review basic DNA/genomics. Terms/concepts you should know are listed here. A useful ppt is here. | Learn these terms from web/basic texts. Review this ppt |
Ch. 4 | |
| Apr 1 | Plant genetic engineering methods (1st ESSAY DUE/Strauss) |
Agricultural Biotechnology: The GMO Debate Opposition to transgenic technologies: ideology, interests and collective action frames 2008 |
Ch. 6 | |
| 2 | Apr 6 | Breeding and genomics concepts; application to animals | Animal Breeding Review Cal Ag Biotech 2006 Video overview of animal biotechnology (Downloadable, to be shown in class) |
|
| Apr 7 (Rec) | Anti-GMO views: What and why | Sierra Club Genetic Engineering Report 2001 | ||
| Apr 8 | Animal biotechnology, cloning, rBST for milk production (DNA basics, READINGS QUIZ 1/Strauss) |
Animal biotech overview Nat Biotech 2005 Peruse only: Capper et al. rbST environmental impact in dairy PNAS 2008 |
||
| 3 | Apr 13 | History of domestication and breeding; green revolution | Evolution, consequences and future of plant
and animal domestication Diamond 2002 |
Ch. 1 |
| Apr 14 (Rec) | Organic certification / organics and GMOs |
Peruse only: Organic food nutrition rev Am J Clin Nutr 2009 Organic food and farming Q and A Impacts of genetically engineered crops on pesticide use: The first thirteen years |
||
| Apr 15 | Localism, romanticism, and sustainable food |
McWilliams Just Food Forbes 2009 Peruse only: |
Ch. 10 and 11 | |
| 4 | Apr 20 | Sustainable science | Ch. 2, 3, and 8 | |
| Apr 21 (Rec) | Biomonitoring of environmental chemicals | Paustenbach_biomonitor Env Health Perspect 2006 | ||
| Apr 22 | Toxicology basics (READINGS QUIZ 2/Strauss) |
Peruse only: |
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| 5 | Apr 27 | Natural toxins in food and environment (SECOND ESSAY DUE/Strauss) |
Biodiversity: Its Importance to Human Health | |
| Apr 28 (Rec) | Forest biotechnology | El-Lakany 2004 GM trees a threat? Unasylva 2004 Sederoff Regulatory Sci Forest Biotech 2007 Peruse only: Strauss et al - Strangled at Birth - CBD and Tree Biotech - Nature Biotechnol 2009 |
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| Apr 29 | Regulating GMOs, chemicals and pesticides | APHIS restructures Jones ISB Nov09 |
Ch. 5 and 7 | |
| 6 | May 4 | Risk assessment of chemicals | Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century Science and Decisions: Advancing Risk Assessment Peruse only: Paracelsus to parascience: the environmental cancer distraction |
|
| May 5 (Rec) | Industry interests and lobbying: Oregonians for Food and Shelter | |||
| May 6 | MIDTERM - in class (includes entire text book) | |||
| 7 | May 11 | Regulating pesticide: a global perspective | ||
| May 12 (Rec) | Videos!: Youtube or other / GMO and chemical technology is the solution to your problem | |||
| May 13 | Food allergens, mycotoxins, and the saga of Star-Link corn | Starlink corn: a risk analysis Bt crops and mycotoxin reduction ISB 2008 Peruse only: |
||
| 8 | May 18 | Bioreactor crops (THIRD ESSAY DUE/Stone) |
Is the drought over for pharming? Science 2008 On risk & plant-based biopharmaceuticals Trends Biotech 2004 |
|
| May 19 (Rec) | Videos!: Youtube or other / GMO and chemical technology is the solution to your problem | |||
| May 20 | Gene flow and adventitious presence (READINGS QUIZ 3/Stone) |
Review of glyphosate resistant crops p. 1-5 Peruse only: |
Ch. 9 | |
| 9 | May 25 | Advances in toxicology | ||
| May 26 (Rec) | Golden rice and humanitarian/developing world issues | Dueling Visions at IAASTD - Science 2008 Why is India shunning safer food 2010 |
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| May 27 | Nanotechnology and toxicology | |||
| 10 | June 1 | Discussion panel 1: Should bisphenol A be banned? | Ch. 12 | |
| June 2 (Rec) | Q and A and review session for final exam / student questions | |||
| June 3 | Discussion panel 2: Should GMO and cloned food be labeled? (FOURTH ESSAY DUE for grad-honors students only/Stone) |
Labeling genetically modified foods: Communicating or creating confusion? Cloned animal labeling Nature Biotech 2008 Peruse Only: |
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| 11 | June 9 | FINAL EXAM - 6:00 PM (Pvy 108) | ||