The Fourth Generation - Roy Jack Mankovitz

Something is killing fetuses before they are born—a scourge affecting people around the globe, and scientists can’t find the culprit. At the same time, a strange sickness is causing organ failure among healthy people. 

Veregro, the world’s primary provider of seeds and fertilizers, and one of the most effective generators of food throughout the world, is offering a million dollars to anyone who can discover the causes of these two mysterious killers. Except…Veregro’s own seeds and fertilizers are the cause, fifty years after they were put into widespread use. Now the Fourth Generation is dying. 

Charlotte Winters, once one of Veregro’s lawyers, is the leader of a Shangri La in far Northern California—a community that grows its own food. It has never used Veregro seed or fertilizers, and the people who live at The Orchard are healthy and safe. 

When one of Veregro’s lab techs uncovers new research that directly incriminates Veregro, he takes it to Veregro’s PR director, Walter Conroy, whose own research twenty years before pointed to Veregro. Walter takes it to the CEO. The next day, the lab tech is dead.

Walter realizes he’s in danger, and seeks out Charlotte to try to stop Veregro before more people die. But Walter and Charlotte are in the company’s sights. Will they be able to convince the world that Veregro’s own products are killing fetuses and people? Or will the CEO manage to silence them?