Unnatural Selection: Technology, Politics, and Plant Evolution

Seeds and planting materials are central to the agricultural industry that feeds us all. Yet, until recently, there has been little interest in analyzing the legal and political processes through which intellectual property rights are constructed for these biological materials. Concentrating on the U.S. experience, Unnatural Selection offers a comprehensive history and insightful sociological analysis of the struggle to own and control biological materials from the 1800s when farmers adapted and bred their own crops, to the first patent law covering plant varieties in 1930, to current international controversies.