biotechnology

Set up during the food crisis in the aftermath of the Second World War, France's National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) was founded on the notion that public scientific research into the management of life in all its multifarious forms would be of major importance for rebuilding France’s position in the world. This book, based on original documentation and testimonies of the main protagonists, explores the 70 years of the institute’s life, focusing on the interactions between science and politics.

“Transforming lives while preserving the planet” is the aim of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), the global framework for action adopted by all UN member states in September 2015. A critical analysis of each of these objectives, their interactions as well as the contradictions inherent in them.

Consult Philippe Poupon 's foreword

Coal, gas and petroleum - resources that are not inexhaustible - produce greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. Plants could be a genuine alternative to these fossil products, at least partially, for both the energy sector and for materials and other products derived from petroleum. This work takes stock of this new chemistry known as “phytochemistry” or “biosourced chemistry”.

The results of the international governance of the biodiversity must not be sought in any "mitigation" of genetic erosion or in establishing a little environmental justice, but in the forms of knowledge and powers that are built on the biodiversity and environmental services. The gamble with this book is to examine this power of the biodiversity in terms of political economics.

What are its socio-economic challenges (nourish the planet, protect the environment, adapt to climate change, organise the seed industry)? What tools and methods are used? How are the main traits selected and improved? The work answers these questions and ends by assessing what plant breeding has brought to farmers, consumers, the industry and society.

Metagenomics has followed the genomics era and invaded the domain of biology. Studying the genetic content of a sample from a complex environment (intestine, ocean, soils, air, etc.) found in Nature (as opposed to samples cultivated in a laboratory), it produces vast quantities of data very quickly that require considerable computer processing to draw out the information. The aim of this work is to enlighten non-specialist scientific professionals on the possibilities offered by this tool to explore the various domains of agriculture, environment, food-processing and health by analysing living organisms.

The French Academy of Agriculture expresses its views here on genetically-modified plants through a dozen or so key scientific, agronomic, economic, legal and sociological questions that are being discussed in society, where the answers are neither simple nor obvious.

The sea not only nourishes us, it can also look after, cure and participate in our well-being. An invisible component exists in this marine biodiversity - the microbial component. Here perhaps will be found new medicines (pain relief, cancer relief, antibiotics), new therapeutic approaches, new active ingredients in cosmetology and new molecules potentially resolving current problems in society. This book addresses a few of the opportunities offered by these micro-organisms and the hopes hinging on these so-called "blue biotechnologies".

Faced with a growing world population, agriculture should increase its productivity whilst protecting the environment. Plant biotechnology has been part of our everyday life for more than forty years, and can be mobilised to produce more and better. How can new varieties be bred quickly? Are genetically modified plants virus-resistant? Could the plants be made more tolerant to excessive salt or cold? Why do certain plant biotechnologies, like transgenesis, meet with harsh reception? The authors are addressing here a sensitive news topic to meet the demand of citizens for more comprehensive information.

Original, educational, written with precision and humour and highly illustrated, this is the first work intended for a wide audience on a well-known topic that affects daily life. Explore this microscopic world with its large and small permutations, its communities, its goodies and its baddies, its highly-organised societies, in every nook and cranny. The reader will find unexpected explanations and clear answers to his questions.