All language subtitles for GMO.OMG.2013.720p.BluRay.x264-[YTS.AM]

The Peace of Wild Things.

"When despair for
the world grows in me

"and I wake in the
night at the least sound,

"in fear of what my life and
my children's lives may be.

"I go and lie down where
the wood drake rests

"in his beauty on the water,
and the great heron feeds.

"I come into the
peace of wild things

"who do not tax their lives
with forethought of grief.

"I come into the
presence of still water.

"And I feel above me
the day-blind stars,

"waiting with their light.

"For a time, I rest in
the grace of the world,

and am free."

Having children
makes you start seeing

everything differently.

It's the first time that
either my wife, Jen, or!

Had to feed someone
besides ourselves.

You have a little life to
nourish and look out for.

And that responsibility
made us think more about food

than we ever had before.

And so did my son, Finn's
obsession with seeds.

When he was 3 years old,

he taught himself
how to write letters

by copying seed names

out of a Seed Savers
Exchange catalog.

He's 6 now and has
been collecting seeds

for half his life.

Finn helped me take my
first real look at a seed.

He taught his little
brother Scout, too,

and I know he'll share his
love with his sister, Pearl.

His wonder filled me with wonder.

Which plant will
make a lot of seeds?

That's how simple it is.

It's like, every time
you just plant one seed,

it will like, grow into a plant

and it produces like,
thousands of seeds.

It's crazy.

It's hard enough
just raising a family,

but then, all these
unexpected issues complicate

what's already so exhausting.

You find out about toxic
chemicals in your house,

asbestos in the walls,
BPA in baby bottles,

methyl iodide on
strawberries, lead in toys,

arsenic and heavy
metals in tap water,

antibiotics in meat,

flame retardant from
furniture in breast milk.

Everything causes cancer

and it's all subtle,
hidden, latent.

We tried to be awake
and make good decisions,

to look out for our children
and do our best for them,

but one thing we totally missed...

We just never heard
about it... was GMOs:

genetically modified organisms.

Seeds much like my son Finn's seeds

but with altered genes

and they are in our food
for either good or ill,

I didn't know,

but it bothered me
that we are eating them

and didn't even
know what they were.

I decided to see if anyone
else knew about GMOs,

and that was the beginning
of a very long journey.

We're doing a documentary on food.

- Okay.
- What people eat.

I'm wondering if you eat GMOs?

I don't even know what that is.

Give me one second.

Hey, girls. How are you doing?

I got henna tattoo
right over there.

GMO, what's that?

I don't know what they are.

What is that?

I don't even know what it
is. What the hell is that?

What is it?

GMO?

What's that?

Genetically modified organism.

Oh.

So, you don't know.
They don't know.

I don't know. Nobody knows.

Like, cattle, chicken?

I eat anything.

Any hot chicks eat them?

No, I'm not sure because
I don't know what they are.

Does it taste good?

What are GMOs?

GMO, I don't know what it is.

That would not help me.

I don't know. Don't
ask me that stuff.

Like, I don't know. Ask her.

Do you eat that?

What are they?

Genetically... um...

Man, I'm lost.

OK, how do we know
if eat it or not?

I heard something about
strawberries with fish

or something like that.

It's like, gen...
genetically made something,

I know, but I don't
know what the O is.

I don't know what they are.

I don't know what that is.

Genetically modified... organic?

No, gen... genetically modified...

- organisms.
- Organisms.

How is it possible that
we are also clueless?

It felt weird not
knowing something so basic

about one of the most
essential things in our lives.

I suddenly felt uneasy about
all the food we are eating.

So, I did some research to
answer a very basic question.

What is a GMO?

According to the World
Health Organization,

GMOs are organisms in
which the genetic material

has been altered in a way
that does not occur naturally.

But what does that mean exactly?

It gets complicated pretty quickly.

They involve
Agrobacterium tumefasciens

and vectors and Ti
plasmids and Cry1Ab genes

taken from soil-dwelling
bacteria called

Bacillus thuringiensis.

They are glyphosate
resistant enzymes called EPSPS

and my favorite, a gene gun
with protoplast electroporation

bombarding cells
with gold particles

coated with DNA encoding,

but in plain English, there
are two basic types of GMOs,

pesticide producers
and herbicide resisters.

A pesticide producer kills
insects like Monsanto's Bt corn.

A gene from a naturally
occurring bacterium

is inserted into the DNA of corn.

The modified corn produces
a toxin lethal to insects.

An herbicide resister
is immune to weed killer,

like Roundup Ready soy.

The DNA is altered with
a soil bacterium's gene

to make the plant immune to
the weed killer called Roundup.

Farmers douse their fields
with Roundup to kill every weed

and unwanted plant,

but even when coated in herbicide,

the soy plant remains unharmed.

I couldn't find anything definitive

on the health effects of GMOs.

Most studies were only
three months in length,

done by the same
company selling the GMOs.

The studies aren't peer reviewed

and they refused to release
the raw data to the public.

Were they hiding something?

Were we all a part of
some gigantic experiment?

Or maybe GMOs make us stronger
and faster and healthier?

Who knows?

But did we even have
a choice on the matter?

Was there a way to opt
out if you wanted to?

And then something happened
that really awakened me

to a much bigger story about
seeds and food and control.

We, the peasants of Haiti,

are the guardians
of the seeds of life.

At the moment, we see
the seeds of death...

invading our country.

Haiti is the poorest country

in the Western Hemisphere.

People suffer from
crippling poverty,

hunger, and malnutrition.

The earthquake made an already
desperate situation much worse.

With hundreds of thousands dead

and countless bodies
lost beneath the rubble

and over a million people
crammed into tent-cities,

the agrochemical company
Monsanto offered Haiti

475 tons of seeds.

So, why would poor
rural farmers burn seeds?

Was there a hidden threat
in Monsanto's donation?

And when she says, "It is
disappointing to see people

encouraging farmers
to burn seeds..."

The people is this guy.

Yes, it's me.

We think that's a normal reaction

for a capitalistic enterprise.

Because the objective of
Monsanto is to make money.

The objective of Monsanto
is not the quality of food

that people are eating.

Monsanto's objective
is not to protect life.

It's not to protect
the environment.

When people like me say these
types of seeds are poisonous,

when I say these seeds are
destroying the life of the land

and destroying the people...

That's when I attack
the interest of Monsanto.

Stop Monsanto! Chase them out.

Monsanto is poison for the air.

Stop Monsanto! Chase them out.

Monsanto is poison for the people.

Stop Monsanto! Chase them out.

Help! Help!

Peasants in the country,

Peasants in the North,

Peasants in the South,

Peasants in the West...

Let's stop them!

It was to change life, the
seeds Monsanto sent to us.

Understand?

We wanted to have our own
homegrown seeds to plant.

We plant produce that
you can plant every year.

With the Monsanto product,
you can plant just one time.

That's why we didn't take it.

They say they have
a gift to give you.

It's a gift to kill you.

It's a gift to destroy
you, destroy who you are.

Because for us,

Seed is something sacred.
It's a natural thing.

We marched against it,

so they wouldn't leave it in Haiti.

We're headed for a small
town called Mirebalais.

And farmers in this area
received seeds from the

USAID Winner Project
and they planted them.

So, this is probably going
to be the closest we come

to finding these
seeds from Monsanto.

We pulled them up
and threw them away.

Because they came up
withered, turned red.

They weren't good for us, so we
pulled them up and threw them away.

They made us pay.

So now we lost both money and seed.

It didn't do us any good.

That's why we say to Monsanto:

Thanks, but we won't
continue with them.

There is a choice,

and I think consumers have
an important role to play

in pushing their countries,
industrialized countries,

to change their mode agriculture.

The Haitians weren't
the only ones protesting

genetically modified seeds
in the biotech industry.

Resistance was springing
up all over the world.

For Haiti, accepting
Monsanto's gift

would mean losing their own seeds,

their food sovereignty,

an essential piece of their
culture and way of being.

And they were fighting for
something that we had lost

without even knowing
we were giving it up.

They believe that the seeds of
life are the common inheritance

of all humanity,

as numerous and diverse
as the stars above,

owned by none, and shared by all.

No one was marching back home.

There were no protests
in the streets.

It was business as usual

and people were
lining up to eat food

that ultimately comes from
the same chemical company

that the farmers in Haiti
were crying out against.

I had to do something,
however small.

So I began at the
most obvious place:

educating my own children.

Boys, I made you
some GMO goggles, OK?

Can I have that one?

Yeah.

But let me tell you
how they work, OK?

Uh-huh.

- See this part?
- Uh-huh.

Lets you see inside of the food.

Cool.

So, you can see if it's got
genetically modified food in it.

You got to be really
gentle with these.

They're super high tech.

What do you see?

OK, guys, look over
there at McDonald's.

Daddy, are you crazy?

There's no GMOs.

Is there anything on the menu
that's not genetically modified?

Give me one minute.

Yeah. I'm in search of food
that's not genetically modified.

- OK.
- It's kind of a quest I'm on.

I figured we could
just go to Whole Foods,

the biggest organic
supermarket in the county.

But I was wrong.

Eighty percent of all
processed foods contain GMOs

and even Whole Foods
hasn't stayed pure.

You guys don't carry GMOs,
do you at Whole Foods?

Um... we're not supposed to.

Thank you, bye.

OK, he said all of our
produce are 100% GMO free.

Our meat department is GMO free.

- All the meat?
- Uh-huh.

Is like, GMO-free, they
don't eat GMO corn or soy?

If it's not organic,

it most likely is fed
genetically modified feed.

At the time, I still thought

that "All-natural" meant
something. It doesn't.

I wonder if this is...
it says "All-natural",

but milk, since it's not organic,

that means it comes
from cows that eat

genetically modified corn and soy.

Oh.

- So, this ice cream...
- Daddy...

In our products, sugar
listed in ingredients

may be beet sugar or cane sugar.

It's not practical for
us to isolate and identify

genetically engineered ingredients.

In other words,

I can't tell you if it's
genetically engineered or not.

Well, it is natural.

But we're eating them.

Even if it's genetically modified,

do you still like it?

Uh-huh.

Years and years from now,

when you're older,
it might hurt you.

Do you care?

I care.

You care?

But you're going to eat it anyway?

Mm-hmm.

But...

And it's not making me dead still.

Well, if you eat too much
of it, it will make you.

This is the best ever.

Were the GMOs the best ever?

Or were they poison like
the Haitians believed?

We loaded up the van and
went looking for answers.

Five minutes from home, we
had to stop for lunch already.

What do you have?

Uh, some ham.

So, that has GMOs in it, too?

What about the cheese?

Cheese.

That is the direction of
Monsanto's headquarters,

but this is Monsanto's corn
that's feeding all of us.

So, you want to get your
goggles on to see it?

I'm a farmer

and I'm an independent
seed sales representative

for Pioneer Seed Company.

We have to have
chemicals to control weeds

so that we can produce the
amount of grain that we have,

just can't produce
it without chemicals.

Unless you're an organic farmer,

you're going to purchase chemicals

to control those problems.

So, having a chemical
company own a seed company

is hand in hand.

Watch yourself or
you'll get hurt...

How come it's green and red?

It's treatments.
There's treatments on it.

OK.

That treatment is for pests
that are under the ground

that will inhibit
the growth of the bean

from coming out of the ground,

worms and bugs and soil
borne diseases as well.

Is this Roundup Ready?

That's one of the genetic
traits that's in it,

- is Roundup.
- OK.

These weigh 59 pounds a piece.

And how much is a bag of corn?

This particular bag of corn
here runs about $350 a bag.

That sounds like a lot.

It's a lot.

I've been a dealer for 10 years,

and when I first
started to sell corn,

it was about $80 a bag, corn was.

You need large equipment
to get it done fast

and it requires a lot of
output of money to do that.

The family farm is going
by the wayside in a hurry.

Do you see this as
like, a good shift?

The fact that we have less
people on the farm now,

in my opinion, is not good.

It's no different than
when you go into a town

and the Wal-Mart's are taking over

where there used to
be Amida's and Alco's

and Gibson's and your
five-and-ten-dime stores.

My great grandpa in
the house that I live in

had spiked nails in
the attic of the house

and he would take the best
healthiest ears of corn

in the fall of the year

and stick them on those spikes

and he would just take the ear

and jab the ear on to the nail

and then it would
just sit there and dry.

And then, he would shell those
kernels off the next spring

and plant them and
that's how he raised corn.

In 1860, farmers made
up 58% of the workforce,

but the rise of
industrial agriculture

rapidly replaced people
with oil and machines.

Today, farmers make up less
than 2% of the workforce

which means there
are more prisoners

than farmers in the US.

The farmer community is kind
of like a lot of other business,

they either had to
get bigger or get out.

Your margin per acre
is very few dollars,

so they've got to do lots
of acres to have anything,

you know, at the end of the year.

Three thousand acres is
considered really just

average to small farm.

Is it true that the farmers
can't save the seeds?

Yes, it is true.

You cannot save seed to replant

because, you know, it's patented.

I'm tickled today that the
companies are doing the research

and providing us with the good
seeds that they are because

our yields have increased 50%

probably in the
last 10 to 15 years.

If the yields have increased that much,
how about people's actual salaries?

The good Lord kind
of takes care of that.

If you're fortunate enough to
get rain and make a good crop,

yes, you could make a little money.

What it costs to
grow an acre of corn,

equipment cost, land cost,

and if they don't make a
yield, they don't make a crop.

That person could
be out of business.

I don't think that
these have corn syrup,

but they do have canola oil.

The funnel cake is fried in it.

Do you still want it?

You don't care that it's
genetically modified?

I do care,

but I'm going to ignore
that I care for a minute.

- Does it deter you in any way, seriously?
- A little bit.

No, it does a little like...

Watching them eat it makes
me a little horrified.

Scout, no.

Scouty.

It's making them violent.

Thank you for calling
customer service.

This is Angela.

I was trying to set up
an interview with someone

at Pioneer just about
the seeds you guys make,

the... OK.

I called all the major
GMO chemical companies,

multiple times, with
a simple request,

as a concerned father.

Are these products safe?

There was avoidance,
suspicion, transferred calls.

All right.

Nobody knows were to direct me.

Is there a pretty likelihood
that I'll be able to get

an interview with
someone at Monsanto or...?

Like I said, I'll
pass it on to them

and have someone
give you a call back.

OK?

Weren't they proud
of their products?

Wouldn't they want to
show off their innovations,

how they were feeding all of us?

I left messages with my name
and email and phone number,

but I never heard from any of them.

Here in Iowa,

we're surrounded basically
by GMO corn and soybeans.

Is there anything you
think I should know?

Well, I think consumer
education is key.

Nobody knows.

And I think the biotech industry
would like to keep it that way,

that people remain unaware
of this issue because,

in general, the more people know,

the more they're shocked
and surprised as you are

about this whole issue

and the potential negative
impacts on human health

and the environment.

The corn we see growing around
here is actually registered as

- a... pesticide?
- As a pesticide...

And then, but it's also a food?

Um... well, that's debatable.

So, would I be accurate in
saying that Monsanto is feeding

us and my children pesticides?

In a way, you could say that.

You could say that.

How is registered pesticide...

Yeah, it's getting into the food.

Yeah, it's getting into the food.

How is that possible?

You know, that's a
lack of regulation.

Well, it's... it's pissing me off.

Yeah. I know.

The more people
find out about it...

I mean that... You
find out about it...

It's outrageous. It's an outrage.

It's totally, you
know, unbelievable.

I mean, I'm... I'm ready to
get into a fistfight like,

- right away.
- Yeah.

X...Oh, Monsanto.

Oh, Mr. Saint.

Go see if they'll chat
me up a little bit.

- Hey.
- Hey, how are we doing today?

Good. How are you doing?

May I help you, sir?

I'm working on a
documentary on food.

No. OK, just a second.

Here you go, sir.

This is the site rep.
You need to talk to her.

I'm sorry?

- She's already on the phone?
- Yeah.

How did you know?

Hello? How did you call...?

I mean, it's kind of weird
that you're calling me

and I just wanted to ask
somebody about the product

and if it's for sure safe and...

You're asking me to leave? I...

OK. OK.

Bye.

Do you guys sell hats
like, Monsanto...?

No, I'm sorry. We don't.

- Have a good day.
- Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

A woman that I talked
to earlier this morning

at a different Monsanto
facility was on the phone

and they handed the
phone to me and she said,

"Jeremy, you need
to leave right now."

Monsanto and the other
major agrochemical companies

are also the world's
biggest seed companies.

The top three companies
control over 53%

of the worldwide
proprietary seed market.

The GMO seeds and chemicals
of these giant companies

grow most of the food we eat

because soy and corn
have found their way

into nearly everything,

cows, chickens, and
pigs are raised on them.

So, most of the meat
and dairy in this country

starts with the GMO crops.

We have a recipe that
we use of chemicals

that allows us to no till.

So, I put two and a half
quarts of Lumax on per acre.

A Lumax has a low level of atrazine

and I just need a
little more atrazine

because it gives me a
little more residual.

And then, I put 40 ounces
of Gramaxone on per acre.

The two products together will
suppress the weeds in this field

hopefully enough that I won't
have to re-spray it again.

If I do have to re-spray it again,

the corn that's planted in
this field is Roundup Ready

and the Roundup will
not affect the corn,

but it obviously
will kill the weeds.

So, what are your thoughts
on organic farming?

I think organics is a choice

and I think organics
are a good thing.

However, the fact of the matter is

organic farmers per acre
are not going to produce

as much as a commercial
farmer is going to

that uses all the
science that's available.

I feel an obligation to
not just the United States

but to the whole world

that there's a billion people

that live on less
than a dollar a day.

So, if we all have planted organic,

and let's say, we cut
our production by 25%,

what are you going to
tell those billion people,

you can't eat?

So, that's why I choose to
use GMO seeds or herbicides,

fungicides, insecticides.

Now, in a certain point, you
have to trust our regulators

and our scientists.

I think they're good people.

And we do have, you know, a
safe and abundant food supply.

I love all the trees.

That's... The book I'm writing
now is "At Home in the Woods."

Pretty... Pretty good, isn't it?

- I mean...
- Yeah.

- It's pretty accurate.
- That's nice.

Yeah, I go out here
like an old fool.

Well, I'll show you out here.

I still grow a little
open pollinated corn

just to thumb my nose
at Monsanto Claus.

How do you do that?

How do you grow
open pollinated corn

surrounded by genetically
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
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 rise
to Roundup resistant weeds

and they're ravaging
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
the air, right?

This is like, turning
into a nightmare.

I don't know where they are.

Was that fun?

Yeah...

Please, can we do it again?

Can I have water?

Yeah, we'll get some water.

Oh, I couldn't hardly breathe.

Many of the problems that
farmers begin to spray for

are there for a reason.

They're taking advantage
of a weakness in the system

that we've created as farmers

and I'm not suggesting
that any farmer

that uses chemicals in
their production system

is a bad farmer

or doing anything that
they're not being told to do.

USDA says, in Iowa,

that for every bushel
of corn we produce,

we're losing 44 pounds
of topsoil on average.

Now, we can do that
for a period of time.

States like Iowa are blessed
with tremendous resources

in terms of soil, but
we can't do it forever.

What we're doing is we're
trading short-term production

for long-term unsustainability.

And that's just a tradeoff that
we just can't afford to make

for future generations.

It's unfair.

We're not suggesting
that we go backwards.

We're suggesting that we take advantage
of that technology that makes sense

but really discard those
pieces of technology

that aren't in our best
interest as a society.

Which are?

GMOs.

After 30 years of
side by side comparison

of organic and
chemical agriculture,

the Rodale Institute's
farming systems trial

proved that organic yields
match conventional yields.

You're telling me that organic
corn and soy will produce...

- The same.
- Just as much

as conventional
genetically modified?

Correct.

In the beginning,
the GMO outperforms.

It really does well
under perfect conditions,

but there is no longevity to it.

And in times of flood or drought,

organic crops actually
perform better.

It's not three years of data.

It's not 13 years of data.

It's 30 years of data.

It's hundreds of scientists

and it's hundreds of peer
reviewed publications.

So, what was going on?

The industry's strongest argument

to justify their chemicals and GMOs

and the ever-increasing price
to farmers and the environment

was that we had to have
them to feed the world.

They spend millions on
advertising to convince us

that there's no other way.

Seven billion people,

one billion of whom
are malnourished.

Today, the population
growth is occurring in Asia

and other parts of the world.

How we are able to
produce food, increase it,

while at the same time being
able to supply to those in need,

is going to be the
challenge that we face.

There's a billion people on earth

going hungry right now

and many of them are
farmers, small farmers.

We have the tools in our hands
today to address the challenge

of global food security.

Anybody that says we're going
to be using GMOs and Roundup

a thousand years from
now to feed ourselves

is deluding themselves.

It's just not going to happen.

But if we talked about organic systems
being in place for a thousand years,

we know that that can work.

So, the myth that organic
can't feed the world

has been disproven.

It's wrong.

We can feed the world
and what we know now

is that we can feed the world well.

OK, boys, we're here.

It's Seed Savers.

Do you see it?

Look at that.

Dude, this is killing me already.

I've been waiting for like,
years to go to Seed Savers.

Like, I thought I would
never go to Seed Savers like,

now I finally get to.

Here we are, my son.

And and my third farm
to go to in my life.

Yes.

What are you going
to look for here?

Uh, seeds.

Seeds?

This was the farm
of endless diversity

whose seed catalog had captured

Finn's imagination when he was 3.

And that passion for
seeds had led us here.

Someone has to be paying
attention to all the pieces.

All the genetic
diversity that we have,

it needs to be identified, saved,

and distributed and enjoyed again

and grown in people's gardens.

We started Seed
Savers with that idea

of seeing if there were any
other people out there interested

in saving old seed and there was.

Today, we have 24,000
different accessions of seed

in our collection.

We're saving genetic diversity.

So, until we know, we
can't make a decision

that we'll never need a

amai tomato again
in our food culture,

but we shouldn't through it out.

And so, we're saving all the
pieces and that's what this is.

It's a beautiful puzzle.

When you see this, how
could you let this disappear?

Seed Savers was a tiny
oasis of crop diversity

in a massive ocean of sameness.

We learned that in
the last hundred years

in the United States,

up to 93% of our crop
varieties have vanished.

They are gone for good because
we have replaced diversity,

seed saving and sharing,
and the farmers themselves

with the corporate-run
industrial monoculture.

The sheer immensity
of what we have lost

is a tragedy on its own,

but it's much more than
losing the beauty and flavor

of those varieties.

As we lose genetic diversity,

we lose traits that could
be the key to saving our crop

from diseases or pests
or the changing climate.

Loss of diversity threatens our
very survival on this planet.

I want to go over
the rainbow, Mama.

Yeah?

I was continuing on
to Washington, D.C.,

without my family.

They needed a break from the road,

but I had to keep on going.

Don't eat McDonald's.

Yeah, I am going to eat them.

As I drove through
field after field

of identical GMO soy
and corn and cotton

drenched in pesticides
and herbicides,

owned and patented by
giant chemical companies,

I wished I could reach
out and take back the land

for my children.

The reason I'm here is
finding out about GMOs,

finding out that a lot of the
food I'm feeding my children

has GMOs in it and why is
it that these are not labeled

and what's being done?

Well, first of all, of
course, it should be labeled.

I don't know what the
impact of consumption

of genetically engineered food

does to the human body.

I... I don't know.

One thing for sure,

precautionary
principle would dictate

that you should
give people a choice

of whether or not they're
consuming these products

and if people choose to consume
genetically modified food,

they should do so knowingly.

In Europe, if anything is written GMO,
people would just leave it on the shelves

and that's why the industry
doesn't want to label

because they know that that
people could actually say,

"Hmm, if I have a choice,
I take the non-GMO."

That led me to introduce to
the House of Representatives

a number of bills covering
GMOs including a labeling bill

and the labeling bill

would require that everything
that was genetically modified

have to, have to indicate that.

Well, that's when
Monsanto went to work.

It seemed possible that Vermont
could pass the bill because

the people in the state of Vermont

wanted to see that
legislation passed,

but our friends at Monsanto
threatened to sue the state

if that bill was passed.

We've moved forward on the GMO bill

and delighted to see
Republican and Democrat

representatives
and Senators with us

all of whom believe as we do

that people have the right to know

what they're putting
in their bodies.

Connecticut's GMO
labeling provision

was eliminated after Monsanto
threatened to sue the state.

State after state has
attempted to label GMOs,

but none have succeeded.

And yet, over 60
countries around the world

require labeling of
GMOs including Russia,

India, even China.

By far, the biggest attempt to
label GMOs at the state level

was California's ballot
initiative proposition 37.

Over six million people voted
to label GMOs in California,

but the industry spent over
45 million dollars to defeat it

and won a narrow victory
by just 3% of the vote.

You said it's in all of the foods,

80% of the foods?

80% of processed foods.

And I eat a lot of processed foods.

So, you eat GMOs, but
you didn't know it?

No, sir.

I don't eat processed foods.

Do you eat out ever?

- Do you eat meat, sort of dairy...
- Yeah,

I don't eat meat, no,
no, no meat, no dairy.

Wow. Very good. Do you eat soy?

Soy, yeah.

93% of soy is genetically modified.

Oh, why you have to tell me that.

So, if you eat out, if you...

Oh, we eat out all the time.

Do you eat 100% organic or just...?

No.

OK. So, you eat GMOs?

Probably.

We have an organic garden here
in the back of the White House,

and it symbolizes
good healthy food,

and then, behind the
walls of the White House,

they're promoting chemical
food which is untested

and we don't know what
the health risks are,

what the environmental risks are.

This is unbelievable to me

that this irony sitting
right here is so thick.

Where is the outrage?

Today, we produce 4,600
kilocalorie per person per day

at household levels.

That's twice as much as we need.

So, today, we produce enough
food to feed 14 billion people.

Now, who is out there
saying we need to double

and who likes those numbers?

The industry obviously.

In 1992,

under heavy pressure
from the biotech industry,

the FDA declared that GMOs

were generally recognized as safe,

G.R.A.S., a designation
only given to food additives

that have gone through
rigorous scientific testing

and been proven safe by
overwhelming consensus

from experts.

They didn't have
any scientific basis.

There were no peer
reviewed studies.

Absolutely, no
longitudinal studies.

These are relatively new products

and they then opened the gates up.

These foods can
create new allergens.

They can make a
nontoxic food toxic.

They can lower immune response.

They do lower nutrition.

We've heard this from
our government scientists

they weren't listening to, but
we know that that was there.

The precautionary
principle says that

if you're not sure,
you don't do it.

And that's not what
is being done today.

There's something extremely wrong

when a government becomes
captive to one industry

and pushes nonrenewable,
debt-creating seeds,

that destroy biodiversity

and independence and self reliance.

And we can see now all of
sudden how this all fits together

and who is behind the government.

It's always the industry

and we know the revolving
door policy here in the US.

Michael Taylor is the
revolving door poster boy.

In 1976, Taylor became a
staff attorney for the FDA.

Then he joined a law firm
representing Monsanto,

then back to the FDA where he
oversaw policy for Monsanto's

genetically engineered
bovine growth hormone.

From there, he headed up
Food Safety and Inspection

at the USDA.

Then, back to Monsanto.

Finally, he has returned to the FDA

as the second
highest-ranking official

pushing the deregulation
of genetically modified

alfalfa and salmon.

Michael Taylor is one of
many who used government

to feed corporate
greed at public expense.

We tried talking to as many experts

and politicians as possible,

but the rabbit holes were endless

because GMOs involve almost
everything you can think of,

world hunger, international trade,

the patenting of life,

the rights of corporations
now defined as people,

the corporate takeover of
government and universities,

the loss of independent
research and science,

anti-trust investigations,

the multibillion dollar farm bill

and our tax dollars essentially
subsidizing this whole mess,

the future of food and seed,

peak oil, and climate change,

labeling and the right to
know and choose as free people,

but what it all really
boiled down to was one thing.

Why are we doing this
is really the question.

And the answer is very clear
because it is huge money.

In the end, a few companies will
control what the farmer grows

and what you have in your plate.

One of the things we've
learned in the last five years

is that we can have seemingly
powerful institutions

that turn out to be extremely
vulnerable and brittle.

Our banks in the financial
collapse were too big to fail.

OK. Well, our energy system
and our agricultural system

are just as top heavy
and just as vulnerable.

And what that means is
not as with the banks

that we should like, bail them out

because they're too big to fail.

It means that anything that's
too big to fail is too big

and we need to build
down this system,

spread it out, make it more stable,

and I think that's the key.

We do not know the effect
of this grand experiment

that is being vested upon humanity

by the purveyors of
genetically modified organisms.

If, in fact, we are what we eat,

then we certainly
should be mindful of

the nature of the
products we are consuming

so we know what we will become.

The sun just
went behind the clouds

There's darkness
all around me now

I've just destroyed
the world I'm livin' in

I broke her heart so many times

And now I've
finally broken mine

And I've just destroyed
the world I'm livin' in

What made me think that
I could go on hurtin' her

I should have known
there had to be an end

But schools of
love are taught by fate

We never learn
till it's too late

And I've just destroyed
the world I'm livin' in

I was worn out and overwhelmed

and needed to get away
from everything for a while.

So, I took my family to one
of our favorite camping spots

in the Sequoia National Forest.

Is there anything sacred left?

Will they genetically
modify these ancient giants

to grow faster so we
can harvest more wood?

There are nearly a hundred
new GMO vegetables and fruit

in the pipeline
waiting to be released.

GMO eucalyptus trees
are already being grown.

There are glow in the
dark rabbits and cats,

spermicidal corn,

goats that lactate
spider silk protein,

salmon that grow four times faster,

and thousands of other
science experiments

altering the world around
us mostly for profit.

Even human genes,

thousands of them in
our bodies right now

have been patented by
companies and universities.

Are there any limits
to what we will do,

to what can be owned?

Just because we can do it,
does that mean we should?

Who is watching over this
new power to alter creation?

Whoo-hoo, I caught a rainbow trout.

After Washington, D.C.,
I had trouble trusting anything

even the rainbow trout.

Have we really escaped GMOs
way up here in the wilderness?

All the fishes eat
are these pellets.

This food is sponsored by the
FDA. Like, it's all approved.

Pretty much it's like what
they give chickens and stuff.

They're like steroids
to make them bigger.

Where do all these fishes go?

We have a different hatchery.

There's 23 different
hatcheries in California,

but pretty much, we'll just
put them in lakes for fishermen.

Do you know who the supplier is?

Silver Cup is one and then
the other one is Rangen.

Hello, this is Leon.

Yeah. Hi, may I speak to someone

about the ingredients
in your fish pellets?

Oh, OK.

- What's...
- Before you eat it?

Yeah, exactly.

The main ingredients, you
have fishmeal and wheat flour.

You got some soybean meal

and it could be genetic modified.

I don't know that for sure.

But I know it's not organic.

So, there you have it.

Rainbow trout caught way up
in the Sequoia National Forest

with your children
in a beautiful pond

and you catch that first
fish as a 4 or 5-year old boy

and it's genetically modified.

What a world we live
in. Unbelievable.

Our kids still looked out
at the trucks in the evenings

begging me with their eyes,

knowing that the trucks
were filled with stuff

that tasted like heaven on earth

and they wanted it bad.

Who doesn't want to buy
their children ice cream

on a hot summer day?

But I felt increasingly
uneasy about it

because I was
beginning to understand

what's really hidden inside
a simple ice cream cone.

Opting out of a type of food
like GMOs that are everywhere

means opting out of
culture and tradition

and we weren't ready
to do that completely.

Hey, what about our candies?

I want candy.

No.

Everyone was getting tired
of my obsession with GMOs.

We still didn't know if
there were any health risks

unique to GMOs.

So, we let our kids have
fun with their friends

and experience the
excitement of Halloween.

Candy at every door poured
out by adoring strangers.

That's for you.

Thank you.

Did you draw this downstairs?

What is it?

Fire.

Fire?

Oh, I see some cavities.

- Yeah, I thought...
- They're trying to get you...

I thought I actually
saw some for real.

Did you?

Starting to form.

From all the sugar?

I have some black teeth.

- Some black teeth?
- Yeah.

- I hope not.
- Why?

You're too young.

Did you know that in one day,

I'm going on a plane
all the way to Norway

to this island called Svalbard

and it's almost all the
way up to the North Pole?

Why?

On this island,

they've created the
Svalbard Global Seed Bank.

Do you know how cold
it is inside the vault?

How?

Minus 15 or 20 decrees
in the coldest parts.

You go through this
tunnel underground

and it's inside this mountain

and that's where all the seeds
from all over the whole world.

The seeds are about 135
meters into the mountain.

We're talking about the most
secure seed bank in the world.

It's an insurance policy.

What we mean to do is,

of course, to prevent
extinction in the future.

We have 700,000 samples coming
from every country on earth.

In every country, the food industry

is the largest
industry that you find.

In the US, a quarter of the
trucks rolling down the road

have something to do
with the food industry,

and at the very base of that,
at the very foundation of that,

what makes the
whole thing possible,

the whole food
industry, food security,

our life on earth, it's seeds.

This crop diversity
is a common heritage.

And so, when you walk
into the seed vault,

what you see is,

for the first time that I
can think of in my lifetime,

countries, virtually all
countries in the world,

coming together for a common
endeavor with a common purpose

that's very long-term
and it's positive.

I think there's a lesson
to be learned there,

about an awareness
of interdependence

and what that means in terms

of our responsibilities
to each other

and how we ought to
be treating each other.

We haven't found any GMOs
in this entire island.

We found a bottle of ketchup.

It was Heinz American Ketchup

made in Germany with sugar
instead of corn syrup.

So, you have American companies

making products for
Europe differently.

Instead of corn syrup,
they're using sugar.

We're doing a documentary on GMOs,

- genetically modified organisms.
- Oh yeah.

Norway is quite strict about that.

It's not allowed.

So, Norway is very...

I think Norway is seeing it
as a very dangerous thing.

That is kind of...
we don't want to...

We don't want to eat or
use or anything like that.

So, that's always when
you go to school in Norway

and you have your kind
of science book here.

- You learn the dangers of it.
- Yeah.

We don't want to know
what's going to happen

if you eat or do
things like that. So...

So, you don't eat them?

No. In a Norwegian
market, it's not allowed.

So, it can well happen
that I've eaten it,

that's it's been in some
corn or something like that,

I don't know how good they
are at separating things,

but like, by the
law, it's not allowed.

It's a weird thing
to think about though

because if you're eating a tomato

and you have the genes of the
scorpion inside the tomato,

it's like, it's not
the way nature made it.

In order to be approved in Norway,

a GMO will be evaluated

according to our
gene technology act.

This is an act from 1993

which says that a GMO should
not have any health risks

or environmental risks.

In addition,

it should contribute to
sustainable development,

be a benefit to
society, and ethical.

So, this broader approach
to GMOs are very good

in order to capture all
the different elements

that we should take
into consideration

when we say yes or
no to a certain GMO.

Historically, the greatest
threat to crop diversity

has been the modernization
of agriculture.

If you want an agricultural
system that's vibrant

and healthy and doesn't
require lots of pesticides

and other chemicals

and gigantic amounts
of fertilizer and water,

then you're going to need the
diversity in the seed vault.

It's absolutely necessary
to that type of clean,

healthy, green agriculture.

Well, I thought we were
going home after Norway,

but we've ended up in France

because this a two-year study
on the health impacts of GMOs

and Roundup was just
released by this Dr. Seralini,

and this is a question I've
had from the very beginning

when I first found out about GMOs

and that was never, has
never been really answered.

It's what are the health
impacts of GMOs, if any.

Dr. Gilles-Eric Seralini

is a professor of molecular biology

at the University of Caen

and serves as president
of the scientific board

for the committee of
independent research

and information on
genetic engineering.

Seralini set out over two years ago

to conduct the most
thorough toxicological test

on the health impacts of
Monsanto's Roundup Ready

NK603 GMO corn

which was approved
in the European Union

almost a decade ago and
after only a three-month study

by Monsanto itself.

Seralini's plan was to study
it over the full life of a rat

with the aim to predict
how humans might be affected

by consuming GMOs.

Beyond the GMO corn itself,

he tested the health
effects of Roundup,

the most prevalent
herbicide in the world,

found in our soil,
streams, ail; rain,

and recently in human urine.

What Seralini found after
two years of detailed analysis

went beyond this own
projections and concerns.

His findings erupted
throughout Europe.

Well, I really appreciate
you taking the time.

So, I guess my first question is,

as a scientist

and as the lead author
of this two-year study,

do you think there are
implications for human health

from GMOs?

Of course, I think there
are severe implications

for human health
due to my research.

We have demonstrated clearly that,

in males, especially
livers and kidneys,

were reached at
the very high level.

Kidneys were also
reached in females,

but females were prone
to big mammary tumors.

The first signs of health effects

occurred in the fourth
and fifth months,

results that three-month
studies would have never seen.

At 14 months, 10 to
30% of treated females

developed tumors.

There were no tumors
in the control group.

At 24 months, 50 to 80% of females

had up to three tumors per animal.

The groups treated with Roundup

showed the greatest
rates of tumors at 80%.

Pituitary glands in females
were the second most affected.

The androgen and estrogen
balance in serum was modified

by both GMO corn and
Roundup treatments.

In males, the liver,
hepatodigestive tract,

and kidneys suffered most

and estrogen levels more
than doubled in males

with the highest
Roundup treatment dose.

We've been eating GMOs

in some form in the
United States for 15 years.

So, why aren't people
walking around with big tumors

or obvious health
effects in our country?

So, what would translate
six months in a rat's life

to human years?

Two years of a rat
is an entire life.

So, as tumor arise, mostly
by the end of the first year

and within the second
year, so that means

at the end of the
first part of the life

which is around 30 to 40

and we are surprised to
see a lot of breast tumors

in women within this part of life.

We don't know what they are due to.

I'm not saying that
everything is due to GMO,

but I think that
GMO could contribute

to some extent to these tumors.

We have the fact that
Roundup can kill human cells

at very low levels and
even lower levels close

to the levels you find in
the river or in the tap water,

then you have hormonal effect,

hormonal imbalance within the cells

that are necessary to form the
genital system, for instance.

Less than a day
after Seralini's study

was published in France's
top scientific journal,

the Science Media Centre of London

put out a press release
discrediting the report

with criticisms from
eight top scientists,

all of them with strong
ties to the biotech industry.

They are well known, these
people that defend Monsanto

because they are the first one
to show in the media to say,

"Well, Seralini's
study is nothing."

They don't want to open the basket

in order to show
what they have done.

They can renew the
tests on their own

and show what happens,
but in the meantime,

we should request to
forbid these products.

Professor Seralini
was widely criticized

for the type of rats he used,
the Sprague-Dawley variety,

but this was the same kind of
rat Monsanto used in its studies

to prove the safety
of its GMO NK603 corn.

Their three-month
study wasn't questioned

but instead led to its
market release in the EU.

Seralini was also
criticized for not releasing

his study's raw data,

but he has offered to do so
if Monsanto will also release

its raw data.

Monsanto has refused.

The shame is that in North America,

you don't have any
traceability of the food,

so you don't know really
who has eaten what.

Everybody is eating
contaminating levels

of these products.

Ninety-eight percent of
agricultural edible GMOs

are just made in the countries
where there is no labeling.

So, the first thing
is to obtain labels,

but there is another simple thing

that doesn't cost one dollar

but that will change the world.

You request by the
law the transparency

on the blood analysis on rats

that have allowed the authorization

the market's release of GMOs

and then we will really
go in another world

in the real 21 st century, I hope.

There may be legitimate
criticisms of Seralini's study,

the number of rats
and the kind used,

but shouldn't his
discoveries give us pause

and more reason for
further research?

The tumors, liver
and kidney damage,

were far higher in rats
eating GMO corn and Roundup

than they were in
the control group.

That alone is frightening.

Shouldn't we verity his study
before blindly dismissing him

and feeding our children GMOs.

It would cost these multibillion
dollar companies almost nothing

to fund independent
transparent studies

to test the effects of
the consumption of GMOs

for all to see,

but they won't do it.

Neither will our own government.

What if Seralini is right?

Are we willing to
risk dismissing him?

One of the reasons
I don't like GMOs

and I have a problem with
these biotech companies,

they say to the farmer

you can't save the seeds
at the end of the year.

What if they came
in here and told you,

"You can't save these
seeds because we own them.

You have to come buy them from us."

I would not like that.

Why?

Because I want to save seeds.

If nobody buys them, then
the company will just give up

and not do it anymore,

not give food to those stores,

and then, there won't be
any of that food anymore.

That's right.

Finn's love for seeds isn't
going to instantly solve

the onslaught of GMOs by
giant chemical companies,

but it's a starting place

because, ultimately, it's
not about being against GMOs

or against big industrial
agriculture and chemicals.

It's about being for
what is good and healthy

and right for us in the planet.

If we do that, the bad
stuff won't have a place.

We are just now learning

what Sir Albert
Howard said so long ago

that the whole problem
of health and soil,

plants, animals, and humanity

is one great subject

and after 15 years of
silence in this country,

we are finally beginning to wake up

and join with millions of
others in a food movement

that has become a great
awakening around the world.

Change of that system is possible,

but there won't be
space in that system

for certain industries anymore.

New one will be created.

Old ones got to go.

Monsanto and lobbying
power of agribusiness,

that's all that's coming in the way

between ecological systems
that protect the planet,

provide food,

and bring life back to our
rural areas in our countryside

and our small farms.

Last year, the USDA said for
the first time in 150 years

that there were more farms
in America instead of fewer.

I think that's the single
most hopeful statistic I know.

It's clear that
people want it labeled,

and yet, it's not and why not.

Well, they don't want it enough.

They're not yelling
loud enough, you know.

In the defense of
the seeds of life,

the greatest symbol we can offer...

is to burn the seeds,

which symbolize
money, symbolize death.

In defense, to defend the
seeds of the peasants...

is to defend the seeds of life.

When you raise your
hands and look to the sky,

you are looking to God.

You can't control your body.

When you're moving
your body like this

that means the pain is hurting you.

You can't talk, you're
just crying out to God.

This type of dance is a protest.

The dancing and singing
is a protest against GMOs.

It's empty in the
valley of your heart

The sun, it rises
slowly as you walk

Away from all the fears

And all the faults
you've left behind

The harvest left
no food for you to eat

You cannibal,
you meat-eaten you see

But I have seen the same
I know the shame in your defeat

But will hold on hope

And I won't let you choke

On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain

And I will change my ways

I'll know my name
as it's called again

I certainly would like
to know what I'm eating.

Absolutely, hundred percent.

You know, if there's nothing
to hide, then disclose it

and let people decide
if they want to eat that.

Yeah, I'd like to know
what I'm... what I'm eating.

Yeah, we should know.

We should know what's in our foods.

Of course, they should be labeled because
you should know what you're eating.

I mean, you know what
you're putting in your body.

I mean, that's simple.

Right?

Tell the truth and reveal.

If you hide it,

then it means probably
there's something haywire.

At the end of the day, it's
your health and you have to know.

Your voices, your presence,
your energy is so needed.

We need your voices to get
back to Washington, D.C.

We need the members of
Congress to hear your concerns.

And I will hold on hope

And I won't let you choke

On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain

And I will change my ways

I'll know my name
as it's called again

I think you all need to stop giving people
***, that they don't even know what it is.

You need to figure it out
before you start serving it.

Isn't that what the FDA is for?

To all the love I lost

Hey just tryin' to play boss

To all those friends I hurt

I treated em like dirt

And all those words I spewed

Nothin' sacred nothing true

To all these ghosts I turn

I'm ready now to burn