GMO OMG Page #4

modified corns?

Well, by now, it's

probably contaminated.

Well, the neighbor,

he has a cornfield right side

of mine this year.

I used to be able to play it

so that where he had corn,

I have corn far enough away that

hopefully it wouldn't pollinate.

A farm can be contaminated

by either GMO seed or pollen.

Insects or wind carry

GMO pollen for miles

spreading it to non-GMO crops.

Their DNA is altered,

giving them GMO traits

like Roundup resistance.

The contaminated farmer is

now growing GMOs illegally,

in violation of the

chemical companies' patent.

Monsanto alone has sued

hundreds of farmers

for this kind of patent

infringement

and they have threatened

thousands of others

with lawsuits,

bullying them into

buying their seeds

and using their chemicals.

The main thing that they say

about the reason we need them

and this biotech

and industrial Ag

is to feed the world.

Can we feed the world like this?

I need to sit down and tell you

about how angry I get

when they say they're going

to feed the world, you know.

That's just... I

don't know if... if, uh...

uh, GMO grains are better

or worse for you

or healthy or not healthy.

I don't know, don't know

anybody who does know,

but that's not the point to me.

These people are

trying to patent nature.

They're trying to

patent all the, you know,

nature really.

They own it.

In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled

that living organisms

could be patented.

The race to own the building

blocks of life had begun.

To think they could own nature,

patent plants like that.

I don't think it's moral.

And it's now the

accepted practice.

I'm very concerned

of what we eat

and I will eat without doubt

anything I produce

with no hesitation.

I'm uncomfortable with

the patenting of the seeds.

OK.

Just because it's

ownership of... of life and,

and it seems strange that you

could patent something that's,

that's living.

Let me give you an example.

OK.

- Can we walk down here?

- Yes.

This oats niche is for

the Amish Market

because it yields well and

cuts well with the binder,

and I'm not saying that

I'm for patenting seed.

- I'm just saying by allowing them

to patent this germplasm - Yeah.

It gives them an opportunity

to get that money coming in

to help fund the research.

Right.

It's become very difficult to

avoid genetically modified food

and the reason

I want to avoid it

or think that I want to avoid it

is because it's like,

the science is still out.

My fear is not from the

genetically modified seed,

what we're putting on that

genetically modified seed

and how much of that is

absorbed by that plant.

The seed itself,

the genetic modification,

will not hurt you,

but if it's resistant to Roundup

and we spray that plant

with Roundup,

does any of that Roundup

get in to the grain.

Yeah.

And that's what you said

has not been tested

and not brought forth to

the public and that's true.

Now, walk down here with me.

This is a giant ragweed.

Giant ragweed is resistant

to glyphosate

in eight or nine states now.

So, you... if you don't

dump Roundup on this,

it's not going to kill it?

There is resistance here

and it's becoming

greater all the time

and they have identified,

I don't know,

9 or 10 or 12

resistant weeds to glyphosate,

but there's different chemistry

you can use to control them.

In this field right here,

if there were no chemicals,

you would see nothing but this

and there would be no crop,

none,

because this would take over.

- Can you eat that?

- No.

Dang.

Technologically,

we are to the point

where we're going

to have to deal with

genetically modified germplasm.

Are you a religious man?

You don't have to be.

Yes, but I don't go to

church every Sunday.

Well, that doesn't

mean anything,

but I'm just wondering from a

religious perspective if you,

you know, believe in

creation or God

or even... or even believe in evolution

that, now, with

genetic modification,

we've done something that

has never come before.

We sort of are playing God

and taking, you know,

one organism over here

and another one

and jamming them together.

But we haven't

created a new gene.

- We're just modifying the old...

- We're taking...

We've taken a gene from a plant

that is resistant to

glyphosate naturally

and insert it into a plant

that we want to produce

to feed the world.

From the very

beginnings of agriculture,

over 10,000 years ago,

humans have struggled

with pests.

For a millennia, we grew

our food organically

without any chemical inputs,

but around 900 A.D.,

Chinese farmers began

using arsenic sulfides.

By the 1800s, lead and arsenic

pesticides filled orchards.

The deadly gamble of

poisoning insects

without poisoning

ourselves had begun

and was about to get much worse.

After World War II,

the battle with nature

became an all-out war.

Chemicals produced for

explosives and nerve agents

were reformulated as

fertilizers and pesticides,

then rained down on

farmland around the world.

In 1945, 200 million pounds

of pesticides were used.

By 2000, it had ballooned

to 5.1 billion pounds.

The result?

Over 500 species of bugs are

now resistant to pesticides.

GMOs emerged in the '90s

as the industry's most

advanced weapon against nature,

plants engineered to

produce pesticides

and withstand deadly

weed killers.

But as weeds and

bugs quickly adapted,

the cure became a curse.

Roundup Ready crops gave raise

to Roundup resistant weeds

and they're ravishing

fields across the country.

Horseweed, Ripgut Brome,

Annual Bluegrass,

Hairy Fleabane,

Goosegrass,

and the monstrous Pigweed

can bathe in weed killer

and still grow up to 3 inches

in a single day.

Bugs like weeds have

adapted more quickly

than we ever thought possible,

overcoming our deadliest

chemical concoctions.

Superbugs like the

Western Corn Rootworm

have found a chink in

the frail GMO armor.

The ravenous Cotton Bollworm

feeds on the Bt toxin

engineered to destroy it,

and now, it's stronger than ever

and has an insatiable appetite.

Hop out.

See this gigantic cornfield?

Uh-huh.

It stretches on

forever and ever?

Uh-huh.

Come here.

When my grandparents were kids,

they used to run and

play in the cornfields

because all the corn is really

close together this way,

but the other way they're rows

and when you go inside,

- you can run down the rows,

- Cool.

Inside this huge cornfield.

- Do you guys want to do that?

- Yeah.

But listen, the problem is this

is genetically modified corn

and it's been modified to

produce its own pesticide.

- So, it actually is a pesticide.

- OK.

So, we have to wear

these special suits.

What are we doing?

Well, I'll show you.

- What's this thing?

- OK, then your arm goes in there.

Not every kid gets to play

in a GMO field of corn.

We're almost ready to have fun.

And you just have to breathe

really hard like this...

because it's cleaning

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