Agro-technology : a philosophical introduction / / R. Paul Thompson.

• Superior document: Cambridge introductions to philosophy and biology
• Author: ProQuest (Firm); Thompson, R. Paul, 1947-
• TeilnehmendeR: ProQuest (Firm)
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Language: English
• Series: Cambridge introductions to philosophy and biology.
• Physical Description: xxiii, 233 p. :; ill.

"Although the current debate about agricultural biotechnology is often narrowly focused on molecular biotechnology (molecular genetic modification), the technological application of biology in agriculture predates the advent of molecular biology. For more than 10,000 years humans have been manipulating the traits of animals and plants (Mazoyer and Roundart, 2006; Thompson, 2009) by manipulating their genes and, thereby their genomes (the specific combination of genes in an organism's cells); the dog was likely the earliest animal to be domesticated (about 16,000 years ago). Early domestication of agricultural animals and plants was based entirely on crude experimentation (trial and error). Biological knowledge was elementary; humans learned early that offspring resemble parents, that selecting animals and plants with desirable traits and breeding them created a population of animals with those traits, and that occasionally a new trait seemed to appear"-- Provided by publisher.