Foreword
Since the late nineteenth century, scientists and farmers have been selectively breeding plants through hybridization, crossing one variety with another to encourage desirable traits and weed out others. With the advent of biotechnology, however, new crops can be bred by taking specific genes from one species of plant or animal and inserting them into another to create hardier crops or products with higher levels of essential nutrients.For example, a cold-tolerance gene from an Arctic flounder has been introduced into strawberries to extend their growing season in northern climates, and an insecticidal toxin has been spliced into the genetic makeup of…
