The Botany of Desire Page #12

These farmers are really living

on, on very thin margins

And very little room for error.

And, you know,

it's easy for us

To sit here and criticize them

for spraying

These chemicals on our food,

but the fact is,

If they were to give up

on a single spraying,

They risk their livelihood.

In 1995, ryan cranney

and farmers like him

Welcomed the news

of an agricultural breakthrough

That promised to cut down

their use of sprays.

Monsanto, the world's biggest

biotechnology company,

Came up with

a much less toxic method

For killing one of the potato's

most deadly enemies --

The colorado potato beetle,

Which can pick the leaves

off a plant

Virtually overnight.

Colorado potato beetle,

Worldwide, is probably the most

serious insect pest in potatoes.

We still estimate that,

you know,

Out in the western u.S.

And probably across the u.S.

As a whole,

About 40% of the insecticides

that were applied

Were applied for

colorado potato beetle control.

Monsanto's innovation

was to create

A new kind of potato,

called the newleaf potato.

It was the first potato to be

genetically engineered

To contain genes from

a different biological species.

Genetic engineering is

a radically new technology,

Compared to traditional

breeding.

It allows us

to move genes

Without regard

to species barriers.

It allows us to move a gene

from a butterfly,

You know, into a corn plant,

From a starfish

into a wheat plant.

Monsanto's newleaf

potato used a gene

From a common soil bacterium,

One that makes a protein

that kills potato beetles

Without causing harm to humans.

The bacterium is called

bacillus thuringiensis,

Or bt for short.

To help market its bt potato,

Monsanto hired plant

physiologist michael thornton

To be one of its liaisons

to farmers in idaho.

Monsanto was able

to identify

The gene in that bacterium,

the bt gene

That was responsible for

production of that protein.

And they could use a process

to insert that gene

Into a potato variety,

one that growers

Were already familiar with.

The beetle eats that leaf

And gets that bt protein

inside it

And it disrupts

its digestive system,

And that eventually kills

the colorado potato beetle.

I came from the standpoint that

technology and new improvements

Were a good thing

for the potato industry,

So I was very excited to see

something that was

Kind of a quantum leap

in technology for the industry

Be introduced.

The promise here was

That you could diminish

spraying.

You might pay a little bit more

for these potatoes,

But since they generated

their own pesticide,

You could give up

some of your sprayings.

And this was very attractive

to a lot of potato farmers.

We were really excited about it

And thought that it was

really going to take off.

In 1996, the newleaf

potato began making its way

Into fast food chains

and supermarkets.

As time went by,

millions of people

Were eating the genetically

modified potatoes,

But hardly any of them

realized it,

Because the government

had ruled

The potatoes didn't need

to be labeled.

I realized

as I did my reporting,

I'd eaten them already.

I'd been in a mcdonald's.

I'd bought frito-lay chips.

And the thing I learned

that iadn'bere of,

Because we hadn't been told,

is that we americans

Had been eating these potatoes

already for a couple of years.

The potato was

the same, nutritionally,

Had the same level of vitamins,

things like that.

It just had this one additional

gene that codes

For a protein that makes up less

than a tenth of one-percent

Of the total protein

in the plant.

And the decision by

The food and drug administration

was that,

Unless it's substantially

different --

Unless there's a new toxin,

Unless you've changed

the nutrient profile --

It does not need to be labeled.

Now, it seems to me

that the potato

Never before produced

this pesticide.

So to say that potatoes

producing pesticide

Are substantially equivalent

to potatoes that don't

Seems to involve a certain

suspension of disbelief.

Hey, hey!

Ho, ho!

We don't want no gmos!

Hey, hey!

In the late 1990s,

as the newleaf

Was making inroads

into the market,

The issue of genetically

modified organisms, or gmos,

Was arousing intense opposition

all over the world.

We don't want no gmo!

Hey, hey!

Ho, ho!

I want to know

what's going on

In my body

and my daughter's body

When they feed corn to --

to us

That's been

genetically altered.

They don't know.

They can't tell you.

What do we want?

Safe food!

When do we want it?

Now!

The bt potato

offers farmers

Reduced cost.

It doesn't offer consumers

anything.

And so a lot of consumers,

if they were given a choice,

Might say, "well, it doesn't

provide an advantage for me.

"and therefore, not knowing

a whole lot about it,

I might --

I might simply say no."

I do know

mcdonald's was getting

A certain number of calls

and letters asking them,

"is it true that you are serving

genetically modified potatoes?"

This is a company,

like many food companies,

Exquisitely sensitive

to public opinion.

And they probably

saw a potential

Public relations disaster.

They didn't want to, you know,

ruin monsanto's business,

But they very quietly said that

after the following year,

They would no longer

be taking them.

And with that,

the newleaf potato was over.

That was it.

In 2001,

monsanto stopped selling

The newleaf potato.

It had captured only about 5%

of the market.

Both mcdonald's and monsanto

Declined to be interviewed

for this program.

I was very

disappointed -- to see

This whole dream

just kind of being shut down

Over relatively a short period

of time

Seemed to me to be a tragedy.

I don't think it was

a tragedy.

I think it was part

of a very large debate

About how our society

ought to respond to the use

Of a radically new technology

like genetic engineering

In agriculture.

But since the demise

of the bt potato,

Monsanto has been

very successful

Selling other

genetically engineered crops --

Like corn, soybeans,

and cotton.

Entomologist bruce tabashnik

has been studying

The bt cotton crop in arizona.

We're in a special

situation in arizona right now

Where about 98% of the cotton

grown is bt cotton.

It's being used as part

of a program to eradicate,

Or at least greatly suppress,

pink bollworm.

The bollworm

is as dangerous

To the cotton crop

as the colorado beetle

Is to potatoes.

We have lots of damage

inside the boll here.

One or more caterpillars

has been feeding

On the seeds inside the boll,

Which is great for the insects,

But not good for the plant

or for the farmer.

Tabashnik has been

investigating

One of the major concerns

about bt crops --

The degree to which insects

evolve resistance

To the bug-killing protein.

Some of his work is

partly funded by monsanto,

Which is legally required

to monitor bt resistance.

For years, organic farmers

have controlled pests

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