This book is about an issue of our times which does not yet get the attention that it deserves - the growing dominance of huge transnational corporations over every aspect of our lives from executive super-pay to private sector pension funds. The authors of this book look at one particular kind of modern corporation - the hi-tech agro-chemical and genetic engineering companies that now dominate the food chain. In this richly detailed account, they show how a handful of companies have:

- Accelerated the industrialization of agriculture and the integration of the global economy in order to gain an alarming control over the food chain.

- Penetrated the previously independent world of scholarly research both in universities and the specialized international agricultural research centres in CGIAR.

- Manipulated public opinion, including distorting our understanding of key environmental processes and issues.

- Unduly influenced regulatory agencies and national governments.

- Turned international bodies like the WTO, the World Bank, and the FAO into instruments devising rules and policies primarily of benefit to corporate growth and corporate profit.

- And now are further expanding by bullying the governments and farmers of the developing countries to accept their technologies and products.

Whether you are interested in the environment, democracy, or the development of countries in the South, the information and analysis contained in this book will prove both disturbing and empowering.