Natural defense : enlisting bugs and germs to protect our food and health / Emily Monosson.
By: Monosson, Emily.
Publisher: Washington D.C. : Island Press, 2017Description: x, 186 pages ; 24 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9781610917186.Subject(s): Environmental health | Ecological engineering | Environmental Health | Ecological engineering | Environmental healthGenre/Form: Print books.Summary: "For more than a century, we have relied on chemical cures to keep our bodies free from disease and our farms free from bugs and weeds. We rarely consider human and agricultural health together, but both are based on the same ecology, and both are being threatened by organisms that have evolved to resist our antibiotics and pesticides. Patients suffer from C.diff, a painful, potentially lethal gut infection associated with multiple rounds of antibiotics; orange groves rot from insect-borne bacteria; and the blight responsible for the Irish potato famine outmanoeuvres fungicides. Our chemicals are failing us. Fortunately, scientists are finding new solutions that work with, rather than against, nature. Emily Monosson explores science's most innovative strategies, from high-tech gene editing to the ancient practice of faecal transplants. There are viruses that infect and bust apart bacteria; vaccines engineered to better provoke our natural defences; and insect pheromones that throw crop-destroying moths into a misguided sexual frenzy. Some technologies will ultimately fizzle; others may hold the key to abundant food and unprecedented health. Each represents a growing understanding of how to employ ecology for our own protection. Monosson gives readers a peek into the fascinating and hopeful world of natural defences. Her book is full of optimism, not simply for particular cures, but for a sustainable approach to human welfare that will benefit generations to come"--Current location | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
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On Shelf | RA601 .M66 2017 (Browse shelf) | Available | AU00000000010961 |
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RA592.N5 F34 2015 Toms River : a story of science and salvation / | RA601 .B66 2014 Eating dangerously : why the government can't keep your food safe-- and how you can / | RA601 .D39 2016 Food and nutrition economics : fundamentals for health sciences / | RA601 .M66 2017 Natural defense : enlisting bugs and germs to protect our food and health / | RA601 .S58 2016 Chickenizing farms and food : new perils for public health / | RA601 .T29 2011 Tackling antibiotic resistance from a food safety perspective in Europe / | RA601.5 .D85 2014 Eat, drink, and be wary : how unsafe is our food? / |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 155-180) and index.
"For more than a century, we have relied on chemical cures to keep our bodies free from disease and our farms free from bugs and weeds. We rarely consider human and agricultural health together, but both are based on the same ecology, and both are being threatened by organisms that have evolved to resist our antibiotics and pesticides. Patients suffer from C.diff, a painful, potentially lethal gut infection associated with multiple rounds of antibiotics; orange groves rot from insect-borne bacteria; and the blight responsible for the Irish potato famine outmanoeuvres fungicides. Our chemicals are failing us. Fortunately, scientists are finding new solutions that work with, rather than against, nature. Emily Monosson explores science's most innovative strategies, from high-tech gene editing to the ancient practice of faecal transplants. There are viruses that infect and bust apart bacteria; vaccines engineered to better provoke our natural defences; and insect pheromones that throw crop-destroying moths into a misguided sexual frenzy. Some technologies will ultimately fizzle; others may hold the key to abundant food and unprecedented health. Each represents a growing understanding of how to employ ecology for our own protection. Monosson gives readers a peek into the fascinating and hopeful world of natural defences. Her book is full of optimism, not simply for particular cures, but for a sustainable approach to human welfare that will benefit generations to come"--