Natural Defense

We rely on chemical cures to keep our bodies free from disease and our farms free from bugs and weeds. While human and agricultural health are rarely considered together, both are based on the same ecology, and both are being threatened by organisms that have evolved to resist our antibiotics and pesticides. Fortunately, scientists are finding new solutions that work with, rather than against, nature. There are viruses that bust apart bacteria; insect pheromones that throw crop-destroying moths into a misguided sexual frenzy; plant genes edited to protect against disease; and a resurgence of the ancient practice of fecal transplants. In this hopeful book, Monosson offers a fascinating look into the future of natural defenses.

Originally published in 1969, In Defense of Nature is an eloquent and prescient plea on behalf of the natural world. Devoid of sentimentality yet lyrical and deeply moving in its portrayals of our despoliation of nature, Hay’s classic work is now available to a new generation of readers.

James F. Sennett and Douglas Groothuis have assembled a distinguished array of scholars to examine the Humean legacy with care and make the case for a more robust, if chastened, natural theology after Hume.

In his collection George extends the critique of liberalism he expounded in Making Men Moral and also goes beyond it to show how contemporary natural law theory provides a superior way of thinking about basic problems of justice and political morality. It is written with the same combination of stylistic elegance and analytical rigour that distinguished his critical work. Not content merely to defend natural law from its cultural despisers, he deftly turns the tables and deploys the idea to mount a stunning attack on regnant liberal beliefs about such issues as abortion, sexuality, and the place of religion in public life.

In this book, David B. Wong defends an ambitious and important new version of moral relativism. He does not espouse the type of relativism that says anything goes, but he does start with a relativist stance against alternative theories such that there need not be only one universal truth. Wong proposes that there can be a plurality of true moralities existing across different traditions and cultures, all with one core human question as to how we can all live together.

The Janeway's Immunobiology CD-ROM, Immunobiology Interactive, is included with each book, and can be purchased separately. It contains animations and videos with voiceover narration, as well as the figures from the text for presentation purposes.

The events that took place on September 11th caused Dr. John Brighton, a naturopathic health consultant, to ask himself questions about what role natural forms of healing might have in a scenario involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD). As he examined the issues and the nature of the threat, he felt assured that a naturalistic approach could make a significant contribution in conjunction with that offered by conventional medicine. Moreover, he felt that to use both would provide a more powerful deterrent than if either were used alone. The naturalistic approach would augment the use of drugs by adding 5 extra lines of defense aimed at supporting and strengthening the immune system to deal with such a dire event. These lines include: A psychological dimension A social dimension A preventative dimension An environmental dimension A specific dimension The whole idea of this holistic strategy is to employ prevention and immune-enhancing factors in order to reduce the level of crisis to begin with. As a result, the dependency on antibiotics (there are no effective antivirals) and other valuable medical resources can be considerably reduced, and, most importantly, preserved for when they would be needed most. Another benefit of integrating these two systems would add what Dr. Brighton calls "synergistic complexity" as a way to reduce the current crisis of germ resistance to many most potent antibiotics and to provide a holistic approach to all forms of WMD. The book clarifies the scope of the threat we face by examining: The variety of biological, chemical, and nuclear threats The factors involved in the creation of WMD The uncanny capacity of microbes to develop resistance to our medications The threat of bioengineering and the creation of superbugs How synergistic complexity could provide a possible solution A chapter is dedicated to focusing on the specific nature and challenges posed by each biological, chemical and nuclear agent. This includes: A description of the agent How it causes harm How it might be used as a weapon, and the possibility of it being used How it is detected diagnostically and in the field The conventional method of care and treatment The suggested natural forms of defense including herbs, vitamins & minerals, and other natural substances and healing therapies. The book ends with a forward-looking chapter on emerging technologies that have promise of increasing our level of defense against WMD. A bibliography and a full section on resources are available.