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Aube Giroux (the filmmaker) and her mother embark on a very personal and poignant investigative journey to find out why genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are not labeled on food products in the United States and Canada, despite being labeled in 64 countries around the world. Interweaving the personal and the political, the film is anchored in the filmmaker’s relationship to her mom, a gardener and food activist who battled cancer during the film's production. Their intimate mother-daughter quest for answers, fuelled by a shared love of food, reveals the extent to which the agribusiness industry controls our food policies, making a strong case for a more transparent and sustainable food system. A visual celebration of family legacy and the love of food, cooking, and gardening.

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Main credits

Giroux, Aube (screenwriter)
Giroux, Aube (film director)
Giroux, Aube (film producer)
Giroux, Aube (editor of moving image work)
Giroux, Aube (director of photography)
Jacobson, Avril (editor of moving image work)
Munn, Mike (editor of moving image work)

Other credits

Edited by Aube Giroux, Avril Jacobson, Mike Munn; director of photography, Aube Giroux.

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- [Aube] My mom was born in ultra-Catholic

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Montreal in the 1950s.

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But she was always a bit of a rebel.

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By the time I came along
when she was 24 years old,

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she was already very active with social

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justice and environmental groups.

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But she always said that her
most important form of activism

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was growing our next
tasty meal in her garden.

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For the first six years of my life,

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it was just me and my mom.

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Then my step-dad joined
our clan and soon after,

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my little sister was born.

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We moved to Nova Scotia, on
the east coast of Canada,

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where I discovered that the kitchen

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was the best place to hang out.

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There were always treats to taste

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and good stories being shared.

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(speaking in foreign language)

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I was the nerdy kid who
brought oddball lunches

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to school and I was pretty sure we were

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the weirdest family on the block.

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(speaking in foreign language)

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When my parents bought their first house,

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my mom immediately ripped
up the lawn and planted

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a huge garden where she grew
all kinds of vegetables,

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berries, flowers, legumes, and garlic.

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She wanted me and my
sister to grow up knowing

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the story behind the food
that we ate, so our backyard

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was basically our grocery store.

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In 1996 I moved to the city.

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I had just turned 19 and was learning

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to make my own food choices.

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But that same year, the first
genetically modified foods,

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also known as GMOs,
had come on the market.

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And while many countries
around the world were

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choosing to label them,
Canada and the United States

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had decided against it, so
if you wanted to avoid GMOs,

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you had to become a bit of a detective.

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I went from knowing everything about

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where my food came from,
to knowing very little.

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- [Voicemail] To listen to
the message, press zero.

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- [Aube] In her garden, my mom practiced

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the age-old tradition of seed saving.

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Like farmers have done
for thousands of years,

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she replanted her own
seeds year after year.

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And what bothered her
about GMOs was that some

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of the world's largest
chemical companies were

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patenting these new
genetically engineered seeds

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and controlling the seed market.

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Farmers who grow GMOs
have to sign technology

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license agreements promising never to save

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or replant the patented seeds.

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My mom didn't think it
was a good idea to allow

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corporations to engineer and then patent

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the living organisms
that we rely on for food.

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She believed that seeds
belong in the hands of people.

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Over the years, she became
a little bit obsessed

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with GMOs and started
sending me every book

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she could find about genetic engineering.

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At first I just rolled
my eyes as my collection

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of unread books got bigger
and bigger, but one day

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I cracked open one of her
books, and much to my surprise,

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I found that I couldn't put it down.

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I learned that GMOs are
organisms whose genomes

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have been manipulated in
a laboratory, often by

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moving genes from one species to another,

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something that doesn't happen in nature

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or through conventional breeding.

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The producers of GMOs
claimed that these new

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organisms would benefit
farmers and that they

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were necessary to feed
a growing population.

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The promise was that they
would increase yields

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and reduce the use of pesticides.

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Whenever I came home to visit my parents,

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I noticed that more and more of the fields

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around our home were being
planted with genetically

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engineered corn and
soybeans, and I was curious

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why our neighbors were growing them.

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- Okay, are you rolling now are ya?

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Okay!

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Here we grow about 500
acres of corn, 300 acres

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of soybeans, and another
300 acres of winter wheat.

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We've been milking cows here
for probably three generations.

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We started using Bt
corn from the first year

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that it was available, mainly because of

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the yield potential that's there.

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Bt corn is a genetically modified corn,

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modified to resist certain weed sprays.

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It has stuff in there
to help control insects,

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when the insect would eat
the leaves on the corn,

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it would upset its digestive
system and they would die.

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You know, they spend a
pile of money on developing

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this new technology so you
can't really blame them,

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but it's quite another
little cost to us, to

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the farmer who has to
buy all the seed instead

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of tanking it and reusing
our own seed next year.

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It's, you know, it's an added expense.

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- [Aube] Can I pull up this chair?

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- Sure.

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There are two techniques used
for making transgenic plants.

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One is the gene gun.

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This is our gene gun.

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It started out as a
sawed-off 22 in a guy's lab

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at Cornell and it's still basically

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a kind of a shotgun approach.

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Gold particles, coat them with DNA,

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shoot them into a plant cell.

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And the more common
technique besides particle

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bombardment is to put the
gene that you want to put

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in the plants, put it into agro-bacterium

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and agro-bacterium will then do the job.

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Ha, here's one.

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Here's a tobacco plant with a pig gene.

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What do you think,
disappointed, aren't you?

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- A little bit, yeah, I
was expecting a snout.

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- It looks like any other tobacco plant.

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I'm personally not afraid of it.

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And, you know, I feed my kids,

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I'm not afraid of them eating GMOs.

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- With the actual process of genetic

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engineering, are there risks?

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- In genetics we have a phrase
called pleiotropic effects.

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It means that there are other
effects in the plant that are

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unintended but are a
consequence of what you've done.

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I wouldn't be surprised
if something came up

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somewhere along the line that we hadn't

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anticipated that's gonna be a problem.

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I wouldn't be surprised.

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- This is the other crop in
Canada that is mostly GMO.

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- Canola.

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- As a scientist, you're
never going to get

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someone to say, I'm absolutely sure, 100%

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guaranteed there's not
going to be a problem.

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And there are going to be
mistakes, but, you know,

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we accept a risk when we climb into a car.

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For some reason technological
developments around

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communications, computers, all those kinds

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of things, well, we accept.

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Food, I would grant you, is special, but.

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- [Aube] There are four
main GMOs in our food.

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Corn, soybeans, sugar beet, and canola.

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The majority are used in animal feed

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to produce eggs, meat, and dairy.

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But GMOs are also found in more
than 70% of processed foods.

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Most GMOs are engineered
for just two main reasons,

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to fight insects and weeds.

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To fight weeds, plants are engineered

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to be herbicide resistant.

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This means they can be
doused with an herbicide

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that will kill every plant
in the field, except the GMO.

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To combat pests, plants are engineered

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to be insecticide producers.

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For instance, Bt corn
is engineered so that

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every cell in the plant
produces a toxin that

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kills insects when they eat it.

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- [Announcer] For anyone
who heard our public forum

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last season on the safety of
genetically modified organisms,

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you'll know it's one topic that arouses

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a lot of emotions and concerns.

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People want to know the
food they're eating is safe,

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and that the government
is doing all it can

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to ensure that safety.

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Well the government responded
to that concern last

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year when it asked the Royal
Society of Canada to put

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together a panel of experts
to examine how genetically

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modified food is
regulated in this country.

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Their report was released early last week,

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and it blasted the methods, the approach,

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and the entire philosophy
of how we test, assess,

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and regulate GM foods and crops.

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- [Aube] In 2001, while
I was home for a visit,

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my mom and I heard on the
radio that Canada's top

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scientific body had just
released a scathing report

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that found major problems with
the way GMOs are regulated.

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The report made 53
recommendations to the Canadian

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government for how to
fix our regulatory system

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and bring it in line with
peer reviewed science and

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the precautionary principle,
which says that new

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technologies should not
be approved when there

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is still uncertainty about
their long-term safety.

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- It's amazing that the
government itself had

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commissioned this study by
the Royal Society and then

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didn't work with it, didn't
recognize the value in it.

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The regulatory agencies
are still assessing

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corporate science
without any transparency,

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without public involvement, or peer review

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from the scientific community.

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- The way it works is
the company wants to have

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a product approved, they submit
the scientific studies that

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they have done, on their own
product, to the government.

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The government scientists
then review that science.

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The problem with that approach is that all

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of that is done behind
closed doors, so transparency

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and repeatability are gone,
which is a fundamental

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aspect of the scientific method.

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So, it's just an obvious
point that you can't

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really claim that it's
science-based regulation

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if the science behind it
is not peer-reviewable.

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- Health Canada has always claimed to have

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a science-based regulatory system.

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But the Royal Society's
report showed that GMO

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approvals are based on
industry studies that have

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little scientific merit since
they aren't peer reviewed.

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After the report came out,
my mom was determined to find

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out how many of its 53
recommendations were implemented.

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- [Aube] She wanted to
ramp up her letter writing

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to politicians, and my
sister and I decided it was

00:14:48.340 --> 00:14:51.350
high time she learn how to use a computer

00:14:51.350 --> 00:14:53.333
and set up her first email account.

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(phone ringing)

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- [Representative] Health
Canada Media Relations.

00:15:25.720 --> 00:15:27.176
- Hi my name is Aube Giroux,

00:15:27.176 --> 00:15:29.507
I'm producing a documentary
film about genetically

00:15:29.507 --> 00:15:32.706
engineered food, and I'd
like to know if I could

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interview someone at
Health Canada who could

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explain how GMOs are regulated in Canada.

00:15:41.420 --> 00:15:42.935
- [Representative] Okay.

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- [Representative Two] Maybe if I put you

00:15:43.768 --> 00:15:48.100
in contact with the Food Directorate.

00:15:50.091 --> 00:15:53.040
- [Food Directorate] Oh,
okay, hmm, GMO foods,

00:15:53.040 --> 00:15:56.851
how they're regulated,
the best thing to do is

00:15:56.851 --> 00:15:59.905
to throw in a couple of sample questions.

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- [Representative Two] Ag got back to me

00:16:00.780 --> 00:16:02.540
and said no, we can only answer the last

00:16:02.540 --> 00:16:05.451
two questions, not the first three.

00:16:05.451 --> 00:16:06.570
It might sound like we are giving you

00:16:06.570 --> 00:16:08.571
the run-around but that's not really it.

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- [Representative Three]
Any questions about labeling

00:16:09.670 --> 00:16:13.619
should go to the Canadian
Food Inspection Agency.

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- It's just that they
told me to go to you guys,

00:16:15.860 --> 00:16:18.229
so do I go back to them now?

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- [Inspection Agent] I'll
look into this for you

00:16:19.339 --> 00:16:24.150
and get back to you as soon as I can.

00:16:24.150 --> 00:16:28.067
(speaking in foreign language)

00:16:31.374 --> 00:16:33.969
- [Pilot] Ladies and gentlemen,
we have just landed in Paris

00:16:33.969 --> 00:16:36.344
at the Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport.

00:16:36.344 --> 00:16:39.177
(accordion music)

00:17:46.855 --> 00:17:50.688
(singing in foreign language)

00:21:53.131 --> 00:21:57.048
(speaking in foreign language)

00:22:26.763 --> 00:22:29.313
- [Voicemail] To listen to
the message, press zero.

00:23:28.660 --> 00:23:30.810
- [Aube] My mom's garden
was not only the place

00:23:30.810 --> 00:23:34.030
where I developed my love
of food, it was also where

00:23:34.030 --> 00:23:36.393
I learned how to use
my first video camera.

00:23:37.590 --> 00:23:39.820
Filming was an excuse to hang out with her

00:23:39.820 --> 00:23:42.530
in her garden, and amidst a lot of joking

00:23:42.530 --> 00:23:45.470
and shaky footage, I
listened to her stories

00:23:45.470 --> 00:23:47.530
about the seeds and plants that she grew

00:23:47.530 --> 00:23:49.873
and the recipes she made with them.

00:24:02.460 --> 00:24:04.470
- [Aube] After I came back from France,

00:24:04.470 --> 00:24:06.979
I became more obsessed
than ever with cooking

00:24:06.979 --> 00:24:10.220
and I started a food blog
where I made cooking videos

00:24:10.220 --> 00:24:13.143
of some of my favorite
garden-to-table recipes.

00:24:15.900 --> 00:24:17.970
But my time in Europe had also left me

00:24:17.970 --> 00:24:21.210
with a nagging question
that wouldn't go away.

00:24:21.210 --> 00:24:25.060
If GMO foods were labeled in
64 countries around the world,

00:24:25.060 --> 00:24:29.059
why were they not labeled in
Canada and the United States?

00:24:29.059 --> 00:24:31.892
(accordion music)

00:24:52.713 --> 00:24:54.280
- [Announcer] Second
reading of Bill C-517,

00:24:54.280 --> 00:24:55.970
an act to amend the Food and Drugs Act

00:24:55.970 --> 00:24:58.950
to mandatory labeling of
genetically modified foods.

00:24:58.950 --> 00:25:01.070
- Mr. Speaker, the purpose of this

00:25:01.070 --> 00:25:03.591
bill is to inform consumers.

00:25:03.591 --> 00:25:06.410
To let them know what they're eating,

00:25:06.410 --> 00:25:10.870
what they're consuming, and
to give consumers the choice.

00:25:10.870 --> 00:25:13.100
- But if we were to put
a label on of genetically

00:25:13.100 --> 00:25:15.677
modified foods on every
product in Canada, we would

00:25:15.677 --> 00:25:18.890
be misleading the consumer
and we would be saying

00:25:18.890 --> 00:25:21.030
to the consumer that
we're a little concerned

00:25:21.030 --> 00:25:22.110
about genetically modified foods

00:25:22.110 --> 00:25:23.730
or we wouldn't put it on the label.

00:25:23.730 --> 00:25:26.179
- This bill, Mr. Speaker,
other than to say it is

00:25:26.179 --> 00:25:31.179
a genetically modified food,
which to be honest happens

00:25:31.700 --> 00:25:36.700
in both natural breeding
and scientific means,

00:25:37.350 --> 00:25:39.283
I think we ought to be blunt about it.

00:25:40.540 --> 00:25:45.114
It does actually cater to
emotion and cater to some of the

00:25:45.114 --> 00:25:49.896
fear to people's fears that are
out there about the unknown.

00:25:49.896 --> 00:25:51.514
- It's patently false to
try to compare these two

00:25:51.514 --> 00:25:54.900
systems and assume that they are one.

00:25:54.900 --> 00:25:57.154
For on the one hand,
we're choosing the cow

00:25:57.154 --> 00:26:01.100
from the herd that
might produce more milk.

00:26:01.100 --> 00:26:03.730
But in this case, the
genetic modification of food

00:26:03.730 --> 00:26:06.480
is when a scientist comes
along and pulls genes

00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:09.765
from an organism at the
molecular level and replaces them

00:26:09.765 --> 00:26:14.513
oftentimes with genes from an
entirely different organism.

00:26:16.530 --> 00:26:17.497
And scientists working at Health Canada,

00:26:17.497 --> 00:26:20.222
who have brought forward
concerns about genetically

00:26:20.222 --> 00:26:22.772
modified products, have
had a number of things

00:26:22.772 --> 00:26:26.510
happen to them and promotion
wasn't one of them.

00:26:26.510 --> 00:26:27.950
They've been terminated, they've been

00:26:27.950 --> 00:26:29.803
threatened, they've been muzzled.

00:27:28.441 --> 00:27:29.390
- [Parliament Speakers]
The house will now proceed

00:27:29.390 --> 00:27:31.252
to the taking of the
deferred recorded division

00:27:31.252 --> 00:27:35.284
on the motion at second
reading stage of Bill C-517.

00:27:35.284 --> 00:27:38.017
Who's in favor of the
motion will please rise?

00:27:38.017 --> 00:27:42.178
- [Parliament Announcers] Mr. Perron.

00:27:42.178 --> 00:27:45.525
Mr. Dewar, Mr. Marsden, Ms. Nash,

00:27:45.525 --> 00:27:49.017
Mr. Atamenenko, Mr. Stougher.

00:27:49.017 --> 00:27:52.473
Mr. Watson, Ms. Pretty, Mrs. Mathison,

00:27:53.589 --> 00:27:54.488
Madam Savoie.

00:27:54.488 --> 00:27:56.453
Ms. Delvin Coover Alannoir.

00:27:57.488 --> 00:27:59.938
Mr. Bettington, Ms. Chow.

00:27:59.938 --> 00:28:00.771
- [Parliament Speaker]
All those on my left

00:28:00.771 --> 00:28:02.598
opposed to the motion will please rise.

00:28:02.598 --> 00:28:05.167
- [Parliament Announcers]
Mr. Getty, Mr. Shear.

00:28:33.133 --> 00:28:35.716
(somber music)

00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:48.340
- We feel the opportunities
of this technology

00:28:48.340 --> 00:28:51.690
far outweigh any perceived or actual risk.

00:28:51.690 --> 00:28:55.540
- Any politician who
tells you these products

00:28:55.540 --> 00:28:58.861
are safe and that is known
through scientific testing

00:28:58.861 --> 00:29:02.693
is either very, very
stupid or they're lying.

00:29:04.110 --> 00:29:06.130
- [Reporter] Genetically modified plants,

00:29:06.130 --> 00:29:08.223
a blessing or a curse?

00:29:10.509 --> 00:29:13.870
- [Crowd] If you're so proud
of it, why not label it?

00:29:13.870 --> 00:29:17.540
If you're so proud of it why not label it?

00:29:17.540 --> 00:29:20.680
- In 2010, I was 11
years old and I started

00:29:20.680 --> 00:29:23.050
an organization called Kids Right to Know.

00:29:23.050 --> 00:29:25.610
And our goal is to achieve
mandatory GMO labeling

00:29:25.610 --> 00:29:27.053
on all our food products.

00:29:27.960 --> 00:29:31.650
Our government first of
all says it's a democracy.

00:29:31.650 --> 00:29:34.510
So we all have freedom
of speech and freedom

00:29:34.510 --> 00:29:37.040
of what we eat, freedom
of everything, right?

00:29:37.040 --> 00:29:38.968
But we don't really
have the freedom because

00:29:38.968 --> 00:29:41.820
they're not telling us what we're eating,

00:29:41.820 --> 00:29:43.480
we don't really have the choice.

00:29:43.480 --> 00:29:45.950
- [Crowd] GMOs have got to go, hey, hey!

00:29:45.950 --> 00:29:47.950
- [Rachel] From the time
they were introduced

00:29:47.950 --> 00:29:51.757
in the late '90s to now, people
in Canada want GMOs labeled.

00:29:51.757 --> 00:29:55.440
But our government isn't
doing what we are demanding.

00:29:55.440 --> 00:29:58.590
And to me that's not much
of a democracy at all.

00:29:58.590 --> 00:30:01.020
This is simply our right to know.

00:30:01.020 --> 00:30:03.223
And why is that being hidden from us?

00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:07.880
- The governments are not
representing the people,

00:30:07.880 --> 00:30:11.430
governments are completely in the hands,

00:30:11.430 --> 00:30:14.903
in the grip of the big
corporations, it's all about money.

00:30:17.440 --> 00:30:20.190
I became interested in
GMOs from the moment

00:30:20.190 --> 00:30:22.510
I first heard about them.

00:30:22.510 --> 00:30:24.642
You know, the idea of messing
about with the genetics

00:30:24.642 --> 00:30:27.841
of plants and never really
being able to predict

00:30:27.841 --> 00:30:31.170
exactly what the consequences will be.

00:30:31.170 --> 00:30:34.163
It's a complete lie
that there's a consensus

00:30:34.163 --> 00:30:37.810
of scientific opinion that GMOs are safe.

00:30:37.810 --> 00:30:40.160
There is no such consensus.

00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:43.051
And we're making decisions
not based on how will this

00:30:43.051 --> 00:30:46.820
decision affect our
people generations ahead,

00:30:46.820 --> 00:30:49.272
like the Indigenous
people, but rather how will

00:30:49.272 --> 00:30:52.290
this benefit me now, the
next shareholders meeting,

00:30:52.290 --> 00:30:55.620
or my next political campaign.

00:30:55.620 --> 00:30:58.192
And, it seems to me here we are, the most

00:30:58.192 --> 00:31:02.200
intellectual creatures
to ever walk the planet,

00:31:02.200 --> 00:31:04.610
and yet we're destroying our only home.

00:31:04.610 --> 00:31:06.470
So there's clearly a disconnect between

00:31:06.470 --> 00:31:08.813
the clever brain and the human heart.

00:31:13.970 --> 00:31:17.890
- Our expert panel said that
to ensure that these new

00:31:17.890 --> 00:31:22.460
products are environmentally
safe and safe to human health,

00:31:22.460 --> 00:31:27.343
you need to monitor these
products in the marketplace.

00:31:30.530 --> 00:31:33.610
If you have new allergic
responses emerging,

00:31:33.610 --> 00:31:37.130
is it the GMO variety
or the non-GMO variety?

00:31:37.130 --> 00:31:39.723
You can't even know that
if you aren't labeling.

00:31:40.760 --> 00:31:43.960
There are other reasons
for labeling as well.

00:31:43.960 --> 00:31:47.435
For example, if you a
member of the Jewish faith,

00:31:47.435 --> 00:31:52.283
and you do not want to be
eating any pork products,

00:31:53.520 --> 00:31:58.520
would you eat a tomato that
had a gene taken from a pig?

00:32:11.364 --> 00:32:14.197
(accordion music)

00:32:24.340 --> 00:32:26.800
- There's a lot of
questions about the impacts

00:32:26.800 --> 00:32:30.028
of genetically modified crops
and foods, and yet 20 years

00:32:30.028 --> 00:32:34.350
of genetically modified
foods, we have no labeling.

00:32:34.350 --> 00:32:37.320
Despite consistent polling that over

00:32:37.320 --> 00:32:39.420
80% of Canadians want it.

00:32:39.420 --> 00:32:41.220
So what's going on here?

00:32:41.220 --> 00:32:45.231
The industry has a lot of
economic and political power,

00:32:45.231 --> 00:32:47.403
and that's why we don't have labeling.

00:32:50.687 --> 00:32:51.720
- [Voicemail] Hello, you've
reached Media Relations

00:32:51.720 --> 00:32:54.623
at Health Canada, please
leave your name and number.

00:32:55.500 --> 00:32:57.430
- I'm just calling to
see where things are at

00:32:57.430 --> 00:32:59.680
with my interview request
with Health Canada.

00:32:59.680 --> 00:33:02.320
I put in the request several months ago,

00:33:02.320 --> 00:33:04.470
and I've been transferred back and forth

00:33:04.470 --> 00:33:06.140
between CFIA and Health Canada.

00:33:06.140 --> 00:33:09.143
I'm really hoping to get an
update on where we're at.

00:33:14.810 --> 00:33:16.770
- [Representative] Alright,
so you're just basically

00:33:16.770 --> 00:33:21.083
following up, to see if you're
able to do an interview?

00:34:03.165 --> 00:34:05.110
- When we sued the FDA for not labeling

00:34:05.110 --> 00:34:07.420
genetically engineered
foods in the late '90s,

00:34:07.420 --> 00:34:10.230
we got 60,000 pages of discovery,

00:34:10.230 --> 00:34:11.860
those are the documents
you get when you sue,

00:34:11.860 --> 00:34:12.820
it's called discovery.

00:34:12.820 --> 00:34:14.370
And in those pages, when we looked through

00:34:14.370 --> 00:34:15.850
them we were shocked.

00:34:15.850 --> 00:34:19.390
What we found was FDA
scientist after FDA scientist

00:34:19.390 --> 00:34:22.220
was saying these foods are completely new.

00:34:22.220 --> 00:34:23.740
And what we're seeing is they can make

00:34:23.740 --> 00:34:26.130
a non-toxic food and make it toxic.

00:34:26.130 --> 00:34:29.120
We're seeing how these new
genetic materials can create

00:34:29.120 --> 00:34:32.520
proteins that could be
allergenic, could cause allergies.

00:34:32.520 --> 00:34:37.030
We're seeing how the process
in food is lowering nutrition.

00:34:37.030 --> 00:34:39.103
This is the scientists at the FDA.

00:34:39.940 --> 00:34:43.681
What happened in 1992 was
that they put Monsanto

00:34:43.681 --> 00:34:46.940
people in at the top of the agency.

00:34:46.940 --> 00:34:49.770
They ignored the scientists,
completely ignored

00:34:49.770 --> 00:34:51.230
the scientists, and then brought in their

00:34:51.230 --> 00:34:54.230
no mandatory testing, no
mandatory labeling position.

00:34:54.230 --> 00:34:55.700
Which remains in place today.

00:34:55.700 --> 00:34:57.950
So what we've seen is a revolving door.

00:34:57.950 --> 00:35:00.945
We've had number of people from
Monsanto, many from DuPont,

00:35:00.945 --> 00:35:04.277
who have actually been in
top positions at the USDA

00:35:04.277 --> 00:35:06.982
and the FDA over the last
20 years, making darn sure,

00:35:06.982 --> 00:35:09.090
that when those agencies did come out

00:35:09.090 --> 00:35:11.020
with any kind of pseudo-regulation,

00:35:11.020 --> 00:35:13.680
that it was what these industries wanted.

00:35:13.680 --> 00:35:15.040
The industry will often say these are

00:35:15.040 --> 00:35:18.240
the most regulated crops in history.

00:35:18.240 --> 00:35:20.760
Well, maybe somewhere
else, I'm not an expert

00:35:20.760 --> 00:35:22.160
on the law in many other countries.

00:35:22.160 --> 00:35:23.600
But I am an expert on the
laws in the United States

00:35:23.600 --> 00:35:25.770
and I can tell you, not
only are they not the most,

00:35:25.770 --> 00:35:28.123
they are virtually unregulated.

00:35:34.300 --> 00:35:35.400
- That looks good, eh?

00:35:38.380 --> 00:35:43.180
After I got my PhD, and
completed a two-year postdoc,

00:35:43.180 --> 00:35:45.880
I took a job at a company called Calgene

00:35:45.880 --> 00:35:48.830
Incorporated that was right here in Davis.

00:35:48.830 --> 00:35:51.740
And they were already
on their way to bringing

00:35:51.740 --> 00:35:54.330
the first genetically
engineered food to market.

00:35:54.330 --> 00:35:55.810
Because we were gonna be first,

00:35:55.810 --> 00:35:58.770
they wanted to be completely transparent.

00:35:58.770 --> 00:36:03.510
So the first product,
out in 1994, was labeled.

00:36:03.510 --> 00:36:06.030
I actually have a sticker
here from the tomatoes.

00:36:06.030 --> 00:36:09.070
If you look down underneath
here, it says grown from

00:36:09.070 --> 00:36:12.320
genetically modified seeds,
right there on the label.

00:36:12.320 --> 00:36:15.850
And after that when the other
developers of these products

00:36:15.850 --> 00:36:18.450
decided they weren't going
to label, I think that only

00:36:18.450 --> 00:36:23.450
contributes to the public's
wariness about the technology.

00:36:24.370 --> 00:36:27.310
You know, it's a scientist's
job to explain the science

00:36:27.310 --> 00:36:31.080
underlying the technology, warts and all.

00:36:31.080 --> 00:36:33.293
You know, the good, the bad, the ugly.

00:36:34.300 --> 00:36:38.124
And for anyone to say
that all products of this

00:36:38.124 --> 00:36:41.503
technology are safe, to
me that's a ridiculous

00:36:41.503 --> 00:36:45.480
statement because it's a technology.

00:36:45.480 --> 00:36:48.746
There can be errors, human
errors associated with it.

00:36:47.070 --> 00:36:59.558
And the FDA at this
point, if you add water

00:36:48.746 --> 00:36:51.786
We don't completely
understand everything about
440
00:36:51,786 --> 00:36:46,786
the genome of the organisms
we're inserting genes into.

00:36:59.558 --> 00:37:04.558
to a food product, you must
put water on the food label.

00:37:06.130 --> 00:37:10.346
But if you add insecticide to your product

00:37:10.346 --> 00:37:14.150
through genetic engineering,
you need not label

00:37:14.150 --> 00:37:17.040
your product, and I
think it needs to change.

00:37:17.040 --> 00:37:19.490
- All of these products
that come onto the market

00:37:19.490 --> 00:37:22.550
in Canada have gone through
our regulatory system.

00:37:22.550 --> 00:37:25.420
And that's the standard
by which we as Canadians

00:37:25.420 --> 00:37:29.410
define by law food safety, okay?

00:37:29.410 --> 00:37:32.741
Now if you choose to say
I don't trust that, fine,

00:37:32.741 --> 00:37:35.240
you have an option, in
organic you can claim.

00:37:35.240 --> 00:37:37.883
Or even in traditional
you can say we don't.

00:37:38.760 --> 00:37:40.870
But to put it on everything
and significantly

00:37:40.870 --> 00:37:42.690
raise the overall food
price, because you've got

00:37:42.690 --> 00:37:45.330
to keep track of all the
various types and all that kind

00:37:45.330 --> 00:37:48.565
of stuff, would add to our overall cost,

00:37:48.565 --> 00:37:53.565
create in my opinion
misleading labels, is wrong.

00:37:54.490 --> 00:37:56.680
Now the question I ask you is if I say

00:37:56.680 --> 00:37:59.301
this contains genetically
engineered product,

00:37:59.301 --> 00:38:01.723
how does the public interpret that?

00:38:03.343 --> 00:38:05.200
Fear.

00:38:05.200 --> 00:38:07.946
That is misleading,
because there is no danger

00:38:07.946 --> 00:38:10.730
as determined by government to that.

00:38:10.730 --> 00:38:14.367
- I just wonder, if it was
labeled, then at least.

00:38:14.367 --> 00:38:16.493
- So we're gonna put a label
on it, this may kill you?

00:38:17.980 --> 00:38:19.730
- [Aube] Well that's
not what a GMO label is.

00:38:19.730 --> 00:38:21.510
- Using your logic I think you would.

00:38:21.510 --> 00:38:22.950
- [Aube] But I keep coming
back to Europe because.

00:38:22.950 --> 00:38:25.487
- You want my honest opinion about Europe?

00:38:25.487 --> 00:38:26.320
- [Aube] Mm-hmm

00:38:26.320 --> 00:38:30.650
- First of all, it comes down
to how society looks at food.

00:38:30.650 --> 00:38:32.900
In Europe, food is looked at as part

00:38:32.900 --> 00:38:34.363
of a tradition and a right.

00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:37.330
The farmers of Europe farm the government

00:38:37.330 --> 00:38:39.020
more than they farm the marketplace.

00:38:39.020 --> 00:38:41.182
In other words, they're paid by government

00:38:41.182 --> 00:38:44.883
to have small little farms and you know,

00:38:44.883 --> 00:38:48.133
that picturesque scenery,
all that kind of stuff.

00:38:48.920 --> 00:38:54.100
- [Aube] Dr. Surgeoner did not
seem to share my enthusiasm

00:38:54.100 --> 00:38:57.963
for small diversified farms
or for European food culture.

00:38:59.930 --> 00:39:03.340
Maybe he wasn't aware that
80% of the world is actually

00:39:03.340 --> 00:39:06.390
fed by small-scale farmers
and that the subsidies he

00:39:06.390 --> 00:39:09.780
was referring to actually
benefit large, industrial

00:39:09.780 --> 00:39:13.103
monocultures, not small,
sustainable farms.

00:39:14.820 --> 00:39:17.340
But his attitude was
very much in line with

00:39:17.340 --> 00:39:20.181
the get big or get out
policies that have shaped

00:39:20.181 --> 00:39:23.653
North American agriculture
for the past 40 years.

00:39:24.690 --> 00:39:27.280
These policies have meant
that large industrial

00:39:27.280 --> 00:39:30.160
farms are encouraged to
get bigger and bigger while

00:39:30.160 --> 00:39:32.965
millions of small family
farmers have been forced

00:39:32.965 --> 00:39:34.863
to abandon their livelihoods.

00:40:04.120 --> 00:40:08.480
Now, I just might adjust
your microphone a little bit.

00:40:09.910 --> 00:40:14.200
- I've grown non-GMO corn the
whole 40 years I've farmed.

00:40:14.200 --> 00:40:16.610
I was skeptical of the big companies,

00:40:16.610 --> 00:40:19.033
what they were saying
about these new products.

00:40:19.033 --> 00:40:22.495
It was genetically
modified seed that brought

00:40:22.495 --> 00:40:25.730
in the idea that farmers
couldn't save their

00:40:25.730 --> 00:40:27.920
seed because they were patented.

00:40:27.920 --> 00:40:31.237
And you had to sign a technology agreement

00:40:31.237 --> 00:40:33.660
saying you were not going to save them.

00:40:33.660 --> 00:40:37.960
But for a long, long time,
farmers saved their soybean seed.

00:40:37.960 --> 00:40:40.997
I think these big companies
realized that there was a lot

00:40:40.997 --> 00:40:45.080
more money in patented seed
and they wanted to get farmers

00:40:45.080 --> 00:40:49.000
forced into raising that
patented seed year after year.

00:40:49.000 --> 00:40:51.520
When they brought out Roundup Ready crops,

00:40:51.520 --> 00:40:53.994
the companies that I
normally depended on for seed

00:40:53.994 --> 00:40:57.230
took their non-GMO seed
right off the market.

00:40:57.230 --> 00:40:59.663
So there really wasn't a choice.

00:41:03.790 --> 00:41:06.997
Initially they said oh,
you'll be using less chemicals

00:41:06.997 --> 00:41:10.490
and it turns out that
because bugs became resistant

00:41:10.490 --> 00:41:14.250
to the Bt traits, you
have to use chemicals now.

00:41:14.250 --> 00:41:18.640
And for weeds, weeds became
resistant to Roundup.

00:41:18.640 --> 00:41:21.493
So you now have to
either use more Roundup,

00:41:21.493 --> 00:41:25.253
or put other chemicals in
the tank to kill the weeds.

00:41:27.660 --> 00:41:30.660
I think it's important to
realize that the Iowa State

00:41:30.660 --> 00:41:35.010
University weed guide said
that history has shown that any

00:41:35.010 --> 00:41:39.680
weed program that's dependent
on chemicals is bound to fail.

00:41:39.680 --> 00:41:42.670
So what does that say about
our agricultural system?

00:41:42.670 --> 00:41:44.363
Well it's bound to fail.

00:41:48.800 --> 00:41:53.220
So what we've had is farmers
thinking that the only way I'm

00:41:53.220 --> 00:41:57.780
going to survive is by producing
as much as I possibly can.

00:41:57.780 --> 00:42:02.270
But it has meant that our rural
communities have collapsed.

00:42:02.270 --> 00:42:04.203
There's so few farmers left.

00:42:05.550 --> 00:42:07.832
And when you're out here in
Iowa and you look all around

00:42:07.832 --> 00:42:11.420
for miles and miles, it's
all corn and soybeans now.

00:42:11.420 --> 00:42:13.290
And the countryside is devoid of

00:42:13.290 --> 00:42:15.823
the biodiversity that we used to enjoy.

00:42:17.700 --> 00:42:19.950
And so they tell everybody that oh we're

00:42:19.950 --> 00:42:22.333
doing all this so we can feed the world.

00:42:23.269 --> 00:42:25.754
The whole idea of
feeding the world ignores

00:42:25.754 --> 00:42:29.750
whether what we're eating
is nutritious or not.

00:42:29.750 --> 00:42:34.010
And corn and soybeans aren't
used to create nutritious food.

00:42:39.986 --> 00:42:41.760
- [Aube] Hi, hi.

00:42:41.760 --> 00:42:42.593
Hi, I'm a friend.

00:42:47.045 --> 00:42:49.212
- [Mary] He's our old one.

00:43:03.670 --> 00:43:05.690
- When I hear farmers
from the corn belt saying

00:43:05.690 --> 00:43:07.470
that we have to have
GMOs and we have to have

00:43:07.470 --> 00:43:10.780
all these pesticides and
chemicals because we need

00:43:10.780 --> 00:43:13.330
to feed the world, I
always want to ask them,

00:43:13.330 --> 00:43:16.060
have you ever eaten anything
that grows on your farm?

00:43:16.060 --> 00:43:18.640
Because the vast majority of
the corn grown in the United

00:43:18.640 --> 00:43:22.993
States goes into feeding
livestock or ethanol production.

00:43:27.590 --> 00:43:30.860
I grew up on a family dairy farm.

00:43:30.860 --> 00:43:32.870
My parents had this common sense approach

00:43:32.870 --> 00:43:35.330
of putting poison in things can't be good.

00:43:35.330 --> 00:43:38.043
And I went to college and learned

00:43:38.043 --> 00:43:39.890
modern conventional agriculture.

00:43:39.890 --> 00:43:43.210
And I came home and we started
farming the way I was taught.

00:43:43.210 --> 00:43:45.990
But all of the while we
were farming conventionally,

00:43:45.990 --> 00:43:49.280
there were these uncomfortable
nagging observations

00:43:49.280 --> 00:43:51.330
being made that the system
really wasn't working

00:43:51.330 --> 00:43:53.160
the way we were told it was going to work.

00:43:53.160 --> 00:43:56.060
And it constantly needed
newer and generally

00:43:56.060 --> 00:43:59.210
more toxic inputs in
order to keep it going.

00:43:59.210 --> 00:44:02.020
But one day, I went to fold
up the sprayer in one of our

00:44:02.020 --> 00:44:04.970
conventional fields and my
right arm wouldn't move.

00:44:04.970 --> 00:44:08.280
And I spent the summer with
my right arm paralyzed.

00:44:08.280 --> 00:44:10.580
So it couldn't do anything.

00:44:10.580 --> 00:44:14.000
- About five years later, I
was re-reading Silent Spring,

00:44:14.000 --> 00:44:18.450
and there Rachel Carson
described the symptoms of 2,4-D

00:44:18.450 --> 00:44:21.150
poisoning, and they were
exactly what Klaas had

00:44:21.150 --> 00:44:24.090
experienced, and he was spraying 2,4-D.

00:44:24.090 --> 00:44:26.422
- At the time when we
started using chemicals,

00:44:26.422 --> 00:44:29.323
2,4-D was the first widespread herbicide.

00:44:29.323 --> 00:44:33.222
It was used on huge numbers
of acres, and later genetic

00:44:33.222 --> 00:44:35.670
engineering, Roundup
Ready crops came along,

00:44:35.670 --> 00:44:38.060
and we were told that in order
to get rid of these hard,

00:44:38.060 --> 00:44:40.779
dangerous chemistries,
that we needed to use

00:44:40.779 --> 00:44:43.950
genetically engineered
glyphosate tolerant crops.

00:44:43.950 --> 00:44:47.490
Now, the glyphosate no longer
works, the Roundup Ready

00:44:47.490 --> 00:44:49.520
crops are not effective and
we're told we have to go

00:44:49.520 --> 00:44:51.390
back to these hard chemistries,
and we have to have

00:44:51.390 --> 00:44:53.782
crops that are engineered
to take even larger doses

00:44:53.782 --> 00:44:56.660
of these old dangerous
chemicals that we were at

00:44:56.660 --> 00:44:59.443
one time told genetic engineering
was going to eliminate.

00:45:01.020 --> 00:45:03.720
- 80% of all genetically engineered crops

00:45:03.720 --> 00:45:05.720
are designed to withstand herbicides.

00:45:05.720 --> 00:45:08.160
Very good for Monsanto, Dupont, Syngenta,

00:45:08.160 --> 00:45:09.610
Bayer, and Dow, the major companies.

00:45:09.610 --> 00:45:12.010
They're selling more of
their chemicals because

00:45:12.010 --> 00:45:15.730
they are chemical companies,
that's what they do.

00:45:15.730 --> 00:45:18.730
And so 150 million more
pounds of herbicides each year

00:45:18.730 --> 00:45:21.680
in the United States are
sprayed because of GMOs.

00:45:21.680 --> 00:45:24.830
- We're here at the EPA on World Food Day

00:45:24.830 --> 00:45:29.410
because the EPA is not protecting us.

00:45:29.410 --> 00:45:32.930
We had 10,000 women call the EPA in three

00:45:32.930 --> 00:45:35.765
days last May, and they
eventually did agree

00:45:35.765 --> 00:45:38.670
to test for glyphosate in breast milk.

00:45:38.670 --> 00:45:41.530
And we need to remind
the EPA to do their job.

00:45:41.530 --> 00:45:42.640
- Go home, GMOs!

00:45:44.200 --> 00:45:46.910
- Roundup is the most
widely used herbicide

00:45:46.910 --> 00:45:49.342
in the world, and
glyphosate is the declared

00:45:49.342 --> 00:45:52.013
active ingredient in Roundup.

00:45:53.810 --> 00:45:58.700
80% of GMOs are engineered
to withstand glyphosate.

00:45:58.700 --> 00:46:01.336
The problem with that is that
glyphosate does not dry off,

00:46:01.336 --> 00:46:03.960
it doesn't wash off,
and it doesn't cook off.

00:46:03.960 --> 00:46:06.866
So we are ingesting then
glyphosate and Roundup

00:46:06.866 --> 00:46:10.060
and we're not genetically
engineered to withstand it.

00:46:10.060 --> 00:46:12.220
When Moms Across America
found out about the dangers

00:46:12.220 --> 00:46:14.460
of glyphosate, we decided
to find out if it was

00:46:14.460 --> 00:46:16.970
in our children, in our
bodies, and in our water.

00:46:16.970 --> 00:46:18.842
So we got the first testing in America

00:46:18.842 --> 00:46:22.110
for glyphosate in water, urine, and for

00:46:22.110 --> 00:46:24.160
the first time in the
world in breast milk.

00:46:24.160 --> 00:46:26.744
We found levels of
glyphosate in our breast milk

00:46:26.744 --> 00:46:30.680
over 3,000 times higher which
has been shown to cause harm.

00:46:30.680 --> 00:46:33.546
So we are of course extremely
concerned about the levels of

00:46:33.546 --> 00:46:37.113
glyphosate in our children's
bodies and in our breast milk.

00:46:42.780 --> 00:46:46.120
- What we've seen now is predictable.

00:46:46.120 --> 00:46:50.688
With 150 million more pounds
of Roundup being poured on our

00:46:50.688 --> 00:46:55.020
crops every year, weeds are
becoming resistant to Roundup.

00:46:55.020 --> 00:46:57.080
Just like antibiotics,
you give the population

00:46:57.080 --> 00:46:59.140
too many antibiotics, you
get bacteria and disease

00:46:59.140 --> 00:47:00.980
agents that are resistant to it.

00:47:00.980 --> 00:47:04.805
So Dow Chemical is coming up
with 2,4-D resistant corn.

00:47:04.805 --> 00:47:08.360
2,4-D is a very powerful
herbicide that was an element

00:47:08.360 --> 00:47:10.690
of Agent Orange that we used in Vietnam.

00:47:10.690 --> 00:47:13.330
They're going up, that's a
higher level, more pathogenic,

00:47:13.330 --> 00:47:15.470
more dangerous, more toxic herbicide.

00:47:15.470 --> 00:47:16.820
Well they need it now because the weeds

00:47:16.820 --> 00:47:18.607
aren't being killed with Roundup.

00:47:18.607 --> 00:47:20.910
So what's gonna happen
five years from now?

00:47:20.910 --> 00:47:22.370
You're gonna have super
weeds and you won't be able

00:47:22.370 --> 00:47:23.640
to kill the weeds with anything.

00:47:23.640 --> 00:47:25.620
And meanwhile, the companies
will have made billions

00:47:25.620 --> 00:47:28.100
of dollars in selling more
and more of these chemicals.

00:47:28.100 --> 00:47:30.610
But to hide the fact
that this is just brutal,

00:47:30.610 --> 00:47:33.084
naked corporate chemical
self-interest, they have

00:47:33.084 --> 00:47:36.980
to get very emotional
about saving the world,

00:47:36.980 --> 00:47:39.803
and progress, and feeding people.

00:47:41.370 --> 00:47:44.160
- [Advertiser] All around the
world, farmers like you want

00:47:44.160 --> 00:47:47.970
to grow healthy crops to
feed our growing planet.

00:47:47.970 --> 00:47:52.970
By the year 2050, there will
be nine billion mouths to feed.

00:47:53.190 --> 00:47:56.549
We're here to help you maximize yields.

00:47:56.549 --> 00:47:59.125
With our advanced scientific innovations,

00:47:59.125 --> 00:48:02.743
and cutting edge genetically
enhanced seed technology,

00:48:02.743 --> 00:48:06.047
we can help you achieve higher yields

00:48:06.047 --> 00:48:09.226
and grow more food to improve the lives

00:48:09.226 --> 00:48:12.200
of people around the planet.

00:48:12.200 --> 00:48:16.563
We're making a better
world, one acre at a time.

00:48:27.360 --> 00:48:29.490
- [Mary] With organic-based agriculture,

00:48:29.490 --> 00:48:31.740
we don't have the amount of soil loss,

00:48:31.740 --> 00:48:34.300
we don't have the amount
of water quality issues.

00:48:34.300 --> 00:48:36.767
We can improve the ecology while taking

00:48:36.767 --> 00:48:39.740
care of producing yield.

00:48:39.740 --> 00:48:43.570
We don't need Roundup,
we don't need Bt corn.

00:48:43.570 --> 00:48:47.300
We have healthy plants,
we have weed control.

00:48:47.300 --> 00:48:49.780
My background is in plant
breeding and genetics.

00:48:49.780 --> 00:48:52.380
One of the things I did as
a plant breeder at Cornell

00:48:52.380 --> 00:48:55.340
is I worked in genetic
engineering in the early years.

00:48:55.340 --> 00:48:59.290
My disappointment with biotech
crops is that they have

00:48:59.290 --> 00:49:03.490
failed to deliver on the
promises that they made.

00:49:03.490 --> 00:49:06.383
- This will be the hybrid
seed that's planted next year.

00:49:08.000 --> 00:49:09.830
- One of the things that
we've tried to do here

00:49:09.830 --> 00:49:12.520
in New York is to take
the science of Cornell

00:49:12.520 --> 00:49:15.810
and make it work for organic farmers,

00:49:15.810 --> 00:49:18.646
and part of that is
producing hybrids of corn

00:49:18.646 --> 00:49:21.510
that don't need the high fertilizers

00:49:21.510 --> 00:49:24.593
or the insecticides, and have
them be just as productive.

00:49:25.786 --> 00:49:26.619
- [Klaas] And this shows
how bad the drought is.

00:49:26.619 --> 00:49:29.000
This corn would normally be 12 feet tall.

00:49:29.000 --> 00:49:31.913
- Yeah and that, showing
us walking through

00:49:31.913 --> 00:49:35.840
a field of corn this height is not great.

00:49:35.840 --> 00:49:38.240
Just make sure you say
it's for seed production.

00:49:39.400 --> 00:49:42.370
- We farm 1600 acres, it's
all certified organic.

00:49:42.370 --> 00:49:44.090
Our yields are actually higher than most

00:49:44.090 --> 00:49:45.330
of our conventional neighbors.

00:49:45.330 --> 00:49:47.490
We had a really interesting day,

00:49:47.490 --> 00:49:49.350
this was quite a few
years ago, in a drought.

00:49:49.350 --> 00:49:51.300
And they were demonstrating a new combine.

00:49:51.300 --> 00:49:52.680
It had a yield monitor in it and it was

00:49:52.680 --> 00:49:54.280
reading what people's yields were.

00:49:54.280 --> 00:49:56.090
And everybody's yields were
poor, and they were saying,

00:49:56.090 --> 00:49:58.530
well how that's organic
corn yielding, ha ha ha.

00:49:58.530 --> 00:50:01.530
And one of our neighbors
rode in the combine,

00:50:01.530 --> 00:50:03.190
and when we got out he
was literally talking

00:50:03.190 --> 00:50:05.100
to himself because he's
seen the yield monitor

00:50:05.100 --> 00:50:07.910
hit 260 when his had done 60.

00:50:07.910 --> 00:50:09.840
GMOs have never raised yields.

00:50:09.840 --> 00:50:11.930
In fact, this was told to me by

00:50:11.930 --> 00:50:13.470
the inventor of the gene gun.

00:50:13.470 --> 00:50:15.567
John Stanford was a friend
of Mary-Howell and mine,

00:50:15.567 --> 00:50:19.226
and at a picnic one time
he pointedly told me that

00:50:19.226 --> 00:50:21.963
genetic engineering will not raise yields.

00:50:26.630 --> 00:50:30.260
80% of the world is being fed
by small scale farmers with

00:50:30.260 --> 00:50:33.663
far less technology, far less
inputs on a lot poorer land.

00:50:35.140 --> 00:50:37.020
- That's one of the
things that a lot of times

00:50:37.020 --> 00:50:39.160
they in the conventional world say.

00:50:39.160 --> 00:50:41.470
We can't feed the world
because we're unproductive,

00:50:41.470 --> 00:50:44.250
we can't control weeds,
it's just not true.

00:50:44.250 --> 00:50:47.570
We have 1,600 acres, but
we're not the biggest organic

00:50:47.570 --> 00:50:49.620
grain farm, even in New York.

00:50:49.620 --> 00:50:52.623
It can be done on a large
scale, with modern equipment.

00:50:53.480 --> 00:50:55.380
This is a cultivator
that our son brought back
695
00:50:55,380 --> 00:50:00,380
from Germany that is GPS
guided and very precise,

00:51:02.086 --> 00:51:05.140
and this is the way we're
gonna be able to control weeds.

00:51:05.140 --> 00:51:06.620
This is cutting edge.

00:51:06.620 --> 00:51:09.290
This is cutting edge science,
it's cutting edge agriculture,

00:51:09.290 --> 00:51:14.290
it's modern technology, but
it's not using the tools

00:51:15.060 --> 00:51:17.833
of pesticides and GMO agriculture.

00:52:38.880 --> 00:52:41.330
- [Aube] Right before her 56th birthday,

00:52:41.330 --> 00:52:44.413
my mom began to lose
mobility in one of her legs.

00:52:45.400 --> 00:52:49.393
A few months later, an MRI
detected a tumor in her brain.

00:52:50.560 --> 00:52:52.595
It was springtime and as usual,

00:52:52.595 --> 00:52:55.822
she had planted way too many seedlings.

00:52:55.822 --> 00:52:58.300
She wasn't well enough to
put them in the ground,

00:52:58.300 --> 00:53:00.820
so she told us where to put everything.

00:54:25.537 --> 00:54:27.300
- [Aube] Gary, do you know
if I'm doing this right?

00:54:27.300 --> 00:54:28.427
Planting onions?

00:54:29.630 --> 00:54:30.633
- [Gary] I've never done
it before, I wouldn't

00:54:30.633 --> 00:54:35.633
know how far apart to put them.

00:56:16.565 --> 00:56:27.398
- [Health Canada Rep] Bonjour, Aube.

00:56:17.398 --> 00:56:19.663
I heard from the program
now that apparently

00:56:19.663 --> 00:56:22.984
the spokes called you, his name is Neil.

00:56:22.984 --> 00:56:24.610
Apparently he left you a message.

00:56:24.610 --> 00:56:27.923
I'm not sure, I wasn't there
but he would be the man.

00:56:31.020 --> 00:56:33.990
- [Neil] Hi Aube, this is Neil
calling from Health Canada.

00:56:33.990 --> 00:56:36.448
Unfortunately I'm not
available to participate

00:56:36.448 --> 00:56:40.325
in the filmed interview
that you requested.

00:56:40.325 --> 00:56:42.083
Okay, thanks, bye.

00:56:43.568 --> 00:56:45.184
- [Health Canada Rep] I'll
try and figure it out, and see

00:56:45.184 --> 00:56:49.910
what's happening and if there's
anything we can do for you.

00:56:50.987 --> 00:56:54.185
- Well I guess I find it
extremely concerning and puzzling

00:56:54.185 --> 00:56:57.610
that Health Canada is not
willing to speak with me.

00:56:57.610 --> 00:57:00.667
I mean, I'm not surprised
when a company like Monsanto

00:57:00.667 --> 00:57:03.968
refuses to be interviewed,
but you guys are our public

00:57:03.968 --> 00:57:08.400
taxpayer funded agency in this
country that regulates GMOs,

00:57:08.400 --> 00:57:11.307
and so you're accountable
to Canadians, and you have

00:57:11.307 --> 00:57:14.700
a responsibility to answer questions.

00:57:14.700 --> 00:57:17.440
So, I've been trying for
months now to line up

00:57:17.440 --> 00:57:20.470
this interview, I've been
transferred from person

00:57:20.470 --> 00:57:22.427
to person and department to department.

00:57:22.427 --> 00:57:26.250
The whole process has been
quite bizarre, actually.

00:57:26.250 --> 00:57:29.430
So, I guess what I'm wondering
at this point is is there

00:57:29.430 --> 00:57:32.580
anyone at Health Canada who
is willing to speak with me?

00:57:32.580 --> 00:57:36.843
Is there anyone at all there
who can answer my questions?

00:57:38.635 --> 00:57:40.660
- [Suzanne] Hi Aube, it's
Suzanne from Health Canada.

00:57:40.660 --> 00:57:44.530
I looked into everything
and there's absolutely

00:57:44.530 --> 00:57:47.774
nothing more we can do
for you unfortunately.

00:57:47.774 --> 00:57:52.060
We put you through to the only
contact that would be able

00:57:52.060 --> 00:57:54.800
to speak with you and if they
are unwilling to go on camera,

00:57:54.800 --> 00:57:59.041
then there is nothing
further we can help you with.

00:57:59.041 --> 00:58:03.637
Sorry, I'm sure it's
disappointing, but media relations

00:58:03.637 --> 00:58:07.487
will not be able to assist you further.

00:58:07.487 --> 00:58:08.320
Bye-bye.

00:58:08.310 --> 00:58:11.970
- [Aube] In their
official written response

00:58:11.970 --> 00:58:15.090
to my interview requests,
Health Canada emphasized

00:58:15.090 --> 00:58:19.000
their commitment to
openness and transparency,

00:58:19.000 --> 00:58:21.810
while at the same time
declining to give a reason

00:58:21.810 --> 00:58:23.853
for their refusal to be interviewed.

00:58:26.250 --> 00:58:30.170
After she had read the Royal
Society's report on GMOs,

00:58:30.170 --> 00:58:32.730
my mom had tried to
find out how many of its

00:58:32.730 --> 00:58:36.081
53 recommendations had been implemented.

00:58:36.081 --> 00:58:37.960
She never got an answer.

00:58:37.960 --> 00:58:40.619
And when I made the same
inquiry, Health Canada

00:58:40.619 --> 00:58:43.576
sent me a long-winded reply
that again, completely

00:58:43.576 --> 00:58:46.283
avoided answering our question.

00:58:52.080 --> 00:58:54.900
- Well it's very clear
that the government did not

00:58:54.900 --> 00:58:57.470
implement the recommendations
of the Royal Society.

00:58:57.470 --> 00:59:02.210
It's very clear in government
literature right now

00:59:02.210 --> 00:59:04.801
that 53 recommendations and essentially

00:59:04.801 --> 00:59:08.403
two recommendations
were fully implemented.

01:01:45.219 --> 01:01:48.899
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

01:01:48.899 --> 01:01:53.358
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

01:01:53.358 --> 01:01:56.930
♪ Happy birthday dear ♪

01:01:56.930 --> 01:01:58.398
- Whoa guys, come on!

01:01:58.398 --> 01:02:00.475
I'm not gonna carry this song.

01:02:00.475 --> 01:02:03.892
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

01:02:24.910 --> 01:02:26.990
- [Aube] Wow, that looks so good.

01:02:26.990 --> 01:02:27.823
- Merci.

01:02:30.100 --> 01:02:32.998
And now, everybody can do that like that.

01:02:32.998 --> 01:02:35.748
- [Gary] Jali, are you ready for.

01:02:49.723 --> 01:02:53.556
(singing in foreign language)

01:03:36.624 --> 01:03:41.624
("Je Te Laisserai Des
Mots" by Patrick Watson)

01:06:24.353 --> 01:06:26.780
- [Aube] I'll never know
if my mom's cancer was

01:06:26.780 --> 01:06:30.050
connected to the heavy pesticide
use in the agricultural

01:06:30.050 --> 01:06:32.437
valley where she lived,
but it's a question that

01:06:32.437 --> 01:06:36.020
haunts me each time I
hear of a new study that

01:06:36.020 --> 01:06:39.133
exposes the link between
pesticides and cancer.

01:06:40.550 --> 01:06:42.820
In the years after she died, I gave

01:06:42.820 --> 01:06:45.070
up on finishing this film.

01:06:45.070 --> 01:06:47.690
I had always felt that
she and I were working

01:06:47.690 --> 01:06:51.240
on it together, that this
was somehow our film,

01:06:51.240 --> 01:06:53.090
and I didn't want to finish it alone.

01:06:54.480 --> 01:06:57.050
I just wanted to get away
from the whole thorny

01:06:57.050 --> 01:06:59.960
topic of GMOs and I became more and more

01:06:59.960 --> 01:07:01.983
interested in organic farming.

01:07:09.636 --> 01:07:12.430
I figured that if I just
learned to grow my own food,

01:07:12.430 --> 01:07:15.003
I wouldn't have to think
about GMOs anymore.

01:07:16.320 --> 01:07:19.975
But then one day, I found
out how many miles corn

01:07:19.975 --> 01:07:23.220
pollen can travel and
how easy it is to have

01:07:23.220 --> 01:07:26.363
your crop contaminated
by neighboring GMOs.

01:07:30.520 --> 01:07:33.098
It's the nature of living
organisms to reproduce

01:07:33.098 --> 01:07:35.990
and spread, and once they're released into

01:07:35.990 --> 01:07:40.000
the environment, GMOs are
impossible to control.

01:07:40.000 --> 01:07:42.093
You can't call them back into the lab.

01:07:45.260 --> 01:07:47.710
I realized that this wasn't a subject

01:07:47.710 --> 01:07:49.820
I could just walk away from.

01:07:49.820 --> 01:07:52.335
GMOs were forcing me to finish this film,

01:07:52.335 --> 01:07:55.633
and I could feel my mom
nudging me forward as well.

01:07:57.460 --> 01:08:00.520
She believed that with
every bite of food we eat,

01:08:00.520 --> 01:08:03.290
we're making a choice about
the kind of world we want

01:08:03.290 --> 01:08:06.913
to live in, and the kind of
agriculture we want to support.

01:08:09.353 --> 01:08:10.850
- [Crowd] No more GMOs!

01:08:10.850 --> 01:08:13.250
- [Aube] She would always
remind us that democracy

01:08:13.250 --> 01:08:16.336
is about more than just
voting once every few years.

01:08:16.336 --> 01:08:19.450
It's about being active in
the world and holding our

01:08:19.450 --> 01:08:22.740
governments accountable to
the people they represent.

01:08:22.740 --> 01:08:26.020
A few years after my mom
died, the GMO labeling

01:08:26.020 --> 01:08:28.656
movement began to gain
momentum and individual

01:08:28.656 --> 01:08:32.760
states tried to pass GMO labeling laws.

01:08:32.760 --> 01:08:35.837
By 2012, California was poised to become

01:08:35.837 --> 01:08:38.393
the first state to label GMOs.

01:08:39.490 --> 01:08:41.690
I knew my mom would have
wanted to be there and

01:08:41.690 --> 01:08:44.420
for the first time since
she died, I picked up my

01:08:44.420 --> 01:08:47.363
camera again and bought a
ticket to San Francisco.

01:08:48.714 --> 01:08:50.140
- As I could see that no government agency

01:08:50.140 --> 01:08:52.600
or legislative body would
ever give us what we

01:08:52.600 --> 01:08:55.280
the people wanted, I
decided that it was time

01:08:55.280 --> 01:08:59.354
to invoke the right of the
people of California to stand up

01:08:59.354 --> 01:09:04.293
and demand, we want genetically
engineered foods labeled!

01:09:06.469 --> 01:09:07.302
- [Activist] A month ago we were winning

01:09:07.302 --> 01:09:09.330
this proposition two to one.

01:09:09.330 --> 01:09:12.750
In the last month, that victory
margin has slipped to zero.

01:09:12.750 --> 01:09:15.700
We are in a dead heat
because $45 million dollars

01:09:15.700 --> 01:09:17.843
unfortunately, can buy elections.

01:09:18.930 --> 01:09:21.530
- It's right here, you
have the easiest ones.

01:09:21.530 --> 01:09:22.870
- My name is Monica Lopez.

01:09:22.870 --> 01:09:25.840
I've been living in Europe
for the last 11 years.

01:09:25.840 --> 01:09:28.020
Very surprised to come back two years ago

01:09:28.020 --> 01:09:30.320
and find the quality of food
that our children are eating.

01:09:30.320 --> 01:09:32.447
For me it was just a fundamental
calling to get involved

01:09:32.447 --> 01:09:34.280
with the thing that we
all have a right to.

01:09:34.280 --> 01:09:37.235
So it's three days before
the election, a giant group

01:09:37.235 --> 01:09:40.950
of us met at Dolores Park
this morning to talk to shop

01:09:40.950 --> 01:09:43.170
owners, to talk to people
at bus stops and sidewalks

01:09:43.170 --> 01:09:45.420
and make sure people
realize what this is about

01:09:45.420 --> 01:09:47.970
and it's completely in our
hands to turn it around.

01:09:50.200 --> 01:09:53.340
- A couple months ago, the polls had 65%

01:09:53.340 --> 01:09:55.500
of the people would vote yes on this.

01:09:55.500 --> 01:09:57.790
They wanted to know
what was in their food.

01:09:57.790 --> 01:10:01.040
And in the last, I don't know
how many weeks it's been,

01:10:01.040 --> 01:10:04.440
the opposition have been
spending a million bucks a day,

01:10:04.440 --> 01:10:08.362
and putting out ads that the
newspapers have done some fact

01:10:08.362 --> 01:10:13.362
checking on, and, misleading,
misleading I have to say.

01:10:13.900 --> 01:10:14.850
They're misleading.

01:10:15.991 --> 01:10:19.430
And so money, you know,
you follow the money.

01:10:19.430 --> 01:10:21.030
- [Advertiser] The last
thing small business

01:10:21.030 --> 01:10:24.070
owners like this grocer
need is more bureaucracy

01:10:24.070 --> 01:10:26.030
and government interference.

01:10:26.030 --> 01:10:29.210
Prop 37 is a confusing
labeling scheme that

01:10:29.210 --> 01:10:31.910
would tie him up with
red tape, and cost him

01:10:31.910 --> 01:10:34.440
and his customers thousands
of dollars a year.

01:10:34.440 --> 01:10:35.870
- Most of their advertising and their

01:10:35.870 --> 01:10:37.790
talking points were full of lies.

01:10:37.790 --> 01:10:39.960
The California Legislative
Analyst's Office

01:10:39.960 --> 01:10:42.136
said that passing Prop 37 would only cost

01:10:42.136 --> 01:10:46.020
California voters one
to three cents per year.

01:10:46.020 --> 01:10:48.310
The no side fundamentally
knows that there will be

01:10:48.310 --> 01:10:50.742
no food cost increase
because they already label

01:10:50.742 --> 01:10:53.692
their food products in 61 other
countries around the world.

01:10:59.863 --> 01:11:00.880
- I think that no matter which way

01:11:00.880 --> 01:11:03.720
the vote goes, honestly, we've won.

01:11:03.720 --> 01:11:06.218
We have created a nationwide discussion

01:11:06.218 --> 01:11:08.600
of genetically engineered foods.

01:11:08.600 --> 01:11:11.010
There's over 20 additional
states who are looking

01:11:11.010 --> 01:11:13.252
at creating their own state
propositions for labeling,

01:11:13.252 --> 01:11:15.023
so this is just the beginning.

01:11:16.520 --> 01:11:18.410
- That's what 50 million
dollars will buy you,

01:11:18.410 --> 01:11:20.770
a nine-point percentage spread.

01:11:20.770 --> 01:11:22.610
We fought the largest
companies on the planet.

01:11:22.610 --> 01:11:24.847
Giant chemical and pesticide companies.

01:11:24.847 --> 01:11:27.480
The only reason the other side is ahead is

01:11:27.480 --> 01:11:29.870
because they spent 50
million dollars, and they

01:11:29.870 --> 01:11:31.870
were willing to tell any lie they could.

01:11:40.730 --> 01:11:42.150
- [Aube] When I started this project,

01:11:42.150 --> 01:11:44.880
it was meant to be a film about food.

01:11:44.880 --> 01:11:47.853
But more and more, it was
becoming a film about democracy,

01:11:47.853 --> 01:11:51.326
and about who gets to make
our food policies, is it

01:11:51.326 --> 01:11:54.190
the people we elect to
represent us, or is it

01:11:54.190 --> 01:11:57.723
corporations and their
heavily financed lobbyists?

01:11:59.650 --> 01:12:02.746
After California's narrow
loss, other states also

01:12:02.746 --> 01:12:06.164
tried to pass GMO
labeling laws, but again,

01:12:06.164 --> 01:12:09.047
industry spent millions of dollars on ads

01:12:09.047 --> 01:12:11.713
and government lobbying to defeat them.

01:12:13.050 --> 01:12:15.747
- One of my reasons for
hope is what I call the

01:12:15.747 --> 01:12:19.406
indomitable human spirit,
and these are people who

01:12:19.406 --> 01:12:24.406
tackle the seemingly
impossible, and won't give up.

01:12:24.570 --> 01:12:27.128
And, I think of people
like Rachel Carson who

01:12:27.128 --> 01:12:32.128
even continued fighting
against the use of DDT

01:12:32.430 --> 01:12:34.403
when she was dying of cancer.

01:12:37.064 --> 01:12:40.163
And so, I think when
people feel like giving up

01:12:40.163 --> 01:12:42.744
because everything seems so impossible,

01:12:42.744 --> 01:12:46.200
the encouraging thing is
that there are more and more

01:12:46.200 --> 01:12:49.810
and more people wanting to
know what's in their food.

01:12:49.810 --> 01:12:52.504
And if there's a huge percentage of people

01:12:52.504 --> 01:12:55.608
who want labeling, then
there must be a way

01:12:55.608 --> 01:13:00.608
to use this force of numbers
against the corporations.

01:13:04.730 --> 01:13:07.100
- We're fighting major corporations,

01:13:07.100 --> 01:13:08.500
and even our own government.

01:13:09.370 --> 01:13:11.680
We're not asking for much.

01:13:11.680 --> 01:13:13.860
I'm simply asking for labeling.

01:13:13.860 --> 01:13:14.794
- [Crowd Member] Honesty!

01:13:14.794 --> 01:13:16.850
- Honesty, exactly, we're fighting

01:13:16.850 --> 01:13:18.970
for honesty and transparency.

01:13:18.970 --> 01:13:22.850
Please get involved, write letters,

01:13:22.850 --> 01:13:25.950
please do something about
it, because us youth

01:13:25.950 --> 01:13:29.010
are the ones that are gonna
have to live with this issue.

01:13:29.010 --> 01:13:31.469
We have to make our
voices heard, and inspire

01:13:31.469 --> 01:13:35.655
a movement of not just
words, but of action.

01:13:35.655 --> 01:13:37.554
- Hell no, GMO!

01:13:37.554 --> 01:13:39.154
- [Activist] We say no to Monsanto!

01:13:39.154 --> 01:13:40.990
- We say no to Monsanto!

01:13:40.990 --> 01:13:42.877
- [Activist] Hell no, GMO!

01:13:42.877 --> 01:13:45.026
- [Crowd] Hell no, GMO!

01:13:45.026 --> 01:13:46.797
- [Activist] We say no to Monsanto!

01:13:46.797 --> 01:13:49.464
- [Crowd] We say no to Monsanto!

01:13:59.040 --> 01:14:02.300
- It was just over two years
ago that many of us gathered

01:14:02.300 --> 01:14:05.340
on these very same steps
to join Governor Schumlin

01:14:05.340 --> 01:14:09.260
as he signed the nation's first
GMO labeling bill into law.

01:14:09.260 --> 01:14:11.940
And we return today to
celebrate the fact that

01:14:11.940 --> 01:14:14.793
that law goes into effect today.

01:14:17.370 --> 01:14:19.000
And the fact that if you
go down the aisle of any

01:14:19.000 --> 01:14:22.470
grocery store in Vermont, you
can find labeled products,

01:14:22.470 --> 01:14:24.740
and if you don't believe
me, you can check out this

01:14:24.740 --> 01:14:27.240
can of Campbell's soup I
picked up just yesterday.

01:14:29.321 --> 01:14:32.160
- It's just very simple, produced
with genetic engineering.

01:14:32.160 --> 01:14:34.033
The sky did not fall.

01:14:35.270 --> 01:14:37.791
- Some of the biggest food
companies in the world

01:14:37.791 --> 01:14:41.640
are labeling their products
nationwide right now

01:14:41.640 --> 01:14:43.850
in order to comply with Vermont's law.

01:14:43.850 --> 01:14:47.150
They just decided instead
of having a special label

01:14:47.150 --> 01:14:49.650
for Vermont, we're gonna
label all of our products.

01:14:49.650 --> 01:14:53.995
But there are efforts
afoot in Congress right now

01:14:53.995 --> 01:14:58.097
to preempt not only
Vermont's law but any state

01:14:58.097 --> 01:15:02.533
that would wanna pass a
similar GE, GMO labeling law.

01:15:03.370 --> 01:15:06.140
- We have a somewhat surprise
guest, from the great

01:15:06.140 --> 01:15:09.070
state of Vermont, Senator
Bernie Sanders who's been

01:15:09.070 --> 01:15:10.833
a champion of our right to know.

01:15:15.132 --> 01:15:17.073
- [Crowd] Bernie, Bernie, Bernie!

01:15:17.073 --> 01:15:18.500
- Thank you.

01:15:18.500 --> 01:15:19.473
Nice to be back.

01:15:21.800 --> 01:15:25.335
Let me begin by thanking
all of you for doing

01:15:25.335 --> 01:15:30.335
what citizens should be
doing in a democracy.

01:15:30.920 --> 01:15:33.170
You organized, you knocked on doors,

01:15:33.170 --> 01:15:34.570
you went to the legislature.

01:15:36.330 --> 01:15:40.110
That is what democracy
is supposed to be about.

01:15:40.110 --> 01:15:43.513
And as a Vermonter, I
am very proud that our

01:15:43.513 --> 01:15:47.920
state became the first
state to mandate labeling

01:15:47.920 --> 01:15:51.780
for food that contains GMO products.

01:15:51.780 --> 01:15:54.749
Unfortunately, the major agribusiness

01:15:54.749 --> 01:15:58.793
and biotech corporations disagree.

01:15:59.640 --> 01:16:02.750
They do not believe that
people should have a right

01:16:02.750 --> 01:16:06.030
to know what's in the food that they eat.

01:16:06.030 --> 01:16:09.810
And that is why they have
spent hundreds of millions

01:16:09.810 --> 01:16:14.030
of dollars to overturn
the GMO Right to Know

01:16:14.030 --> 01:16:18.730
legislation that Vermont and
other states have passed.

01:16:18.730 --> 01:16:22.050
And then we wonder why
so many people give up on

01:16:22.050 --> 01:16:25.150
the political process, and why
they don't come out to vote.

01:16:25.150 --> 01:16:27.833
When the people go forward
and pass good legislation,

01:16:27.833 --> 01:16:30.750
we're not gonna allow multi-billion dollar

01:16:30.750 --> 01:16:32.903
corporations to rescind that legislation.

01:16:40.290 --> 01:16:44.280
- Agriculture biotechnology
has become an invaluable tool

01:16:44.280 --> 01:16:47.210
in ensuring the success
of the American farmer in

01:16:47.210 --> 01:16:50.070
meeting the challenge of
increasing yield in a more

01:16:50.070 --> 01:16:53.900
efficient, safe, and responsible manner.

01:16:53.900 --> 01:16:57.548
If we don't act today,
what we face is a handful

01:16:57.548 --> 01:17:01.009
of states that have chosen to
enact labeling requirements

01:17:01.009 --> 01:17:03.688
on information that has nothing to do with

01:17:03.688 --> 01:17:07.370
health, with safety, or nutrition.

01:17:07.370 --> 01:17:10.625
Those decisions impact
the farmers in fields,

01:17:10.625 --> 01:17:14.086
who would be pressured to
grow less efficient crops,

01:17:14.086 --> 01:17:18.964
so manufacturers could avoid
these demonizing labels.

01:17:18.964 --> 01:17:22.340
This will result in less
food available to the many

01:17:22.340 --> 01:17:24.923
mouths in our troubled and hungry world.

01:17:30.860 --> 01:17:33.080
- [Reporter] Question now
occurs on the motion to concur

01:17:33.080 --> 01:17:37.930
in the House Amendment S764
with Amendment number 4935.

01:17:37.930 --> 01:17:40.060
- [Aube] Just one week
after Vermont's labeling law

01:17:40.060 --> 01:17:43.025
went into effect, Senator
Roberts' bill, known as

01:17:43.025 --> 01:17:45.942
the DARK Act, passed in
the Senate, overturning

01:17:45.942 --> 01:17:49.286
Vermont's short-lived
law and banning any state

01:17:49.286 --> 01:17:52.390
from having a GMO labeling law.

01:17:52.390 --> 01:17:55.270
This new federal legislation
claimed that it would label

01:17:55.270 --> 01:17:58.620
GMOs at the national level,
but it was so full of loopholes

01:17:58.620 --> 01:18:01.980
that even the Food and Drug
Administration admitted that

01:18:01.980 --> 01:18:06.793
few, if any, GMOs would
actually be labeled as a result.

01:18:08.370 --> 01:18:10.603
The agribusiness industry
got exactly what it had

01:18:10.603 --> 01:18:14.241
lobbied for, a pretend GMO
labeling law that in reality

01:18:14.241 --> 01:18:18.853
gave it a free pass to avoid
clear, on-package labeling.

01:18:21.230 --> 01:18:23.653
- The motion to concur is agreed to.

01:19:20.045 --> 01:19:22.846
- I think the best way
to feed a hungry planet

01:19:22.846 --> 01:19:26.013
is through traditional methods.

01:19:29.010 --> 01:19:32.622
We have to leave behind
this absurdity of poisoning

01:19:32.622 --> 01:19:36.233
the land, and spraying
poisonous chemicals on our

01:19:36.233 --> 01:19:39.693
fields, because this is not
helping to feed the world.

01:19:42.286 --> 01:19:45.040
And I think the new ways
of thinking about growing

01:19:45.040 --> 01:19:48.082
food is really exciting,
bringing back fertility

01:19:48.082 --> 01:19:51.060
to overused poisoned soil.

01:19:51.060 --> 01:19:54.978
And making use of nature
to grow the food in

01:19:54.978 --> 01:19:59.757
the right way, and to get
back to the small farmers,

01:19:59.757 --> 01:20:02.133
the people who care about the land.

01:20:06.637 --> 01:20:07.820
- You know, when you look
at the whole food thing,

01:20:07.820 --> 01:20:10.800
you realize that, and my
grandmother believed this,

01:20:10.800 --> 01:20:13.640
being a woman who was religious,
that to live we have to,

01:20:13.640 --> 01:20:15.993
you know, kill and use nature.

01:20:17.357 --> 01:20:19.930
You know, we have to break the
body and blood, if you will,

01:20:19.930 --> 01:20:21.880
of the natural world for us to survive.

01:20:24.600 --> 01:20:26.640
But if you did it
reverently and if you did it

01:20:26.640 --> 01:20:30.127
lovingly, that it was sort
of a sacrament for her.

01:20:32.301 --> 01:20:33.770
And I think it's really
important for America

01:20:33.770 --> 01:20:36.770
which has gotten so addicted to fast food

01:20:36.770 --> 01:20:39.120
and this sort of one-night stand.

01:20:39.120 --> 01:20:41.270
You eat your burger, you
don't care where it came from,

01:20:41.270 --> 01:20:42.551
you don't care where it's going.

01:20:42.551 --> 01:20:47.071
For us to really
understand the mystery and

01:20:47.071 --> 01:20:51.571
the skill that's involved
in food, it would restore

01:20:51.571 --> 01:20:54.190
a lot of humanity to our
culture, and I learned

01:20:54.190 --> 01:20:55.433
that from my grandmother.

01:20:57.780 --> 01:21:00.434
- Now I've decided to transition
some ground to organic

01:21:00.434 --> 01:21:04.631
and I've noticed a number
of beneficial insects

01:21:04.631 --> 01:21:08.354
like monarch butterflies
have increased, so life

01:21:08.354 --> 01:21:12.423
has become way more beautiful on my farm.

01:21:14.100 --> 01:21:17.250
I think eating good food is
becoming more and more popular.

01:21:17.250 --> 01:21:20.810
And I think the knowledge
that genetically modified

01:21:20.810 --> 01:21:23.900
crops aren't necessary
to produce good food,

01:21:23.900 --> 01:21:26.090
in fact they may be detrimental.

01:21:26.090 --> 01:21:28.480
So I think as the public
gets more and more informed

01:21:28.480 --> 01:21:30.850
about that, the more they
are gonna demand that food

01:21:30.850 --> 01:21:34.910
be labeled, and if it's
isn't, then they know

01:21:34.910 --> 01:21:36.280
there's something wrong with the system,

01:21:36.280 --> 01:21:38.430
there's something wrong
with our democracy.

01:21:46.490 --> 01:21:49.111
- [Aube] My mom always used
to say that a great recipe

01:21:49.111 --> 01:21:52.800
doesn't start in the
kitchen, it starts outside,

01:21:52.800 --> 01:21:54.313
with a seed in the ground.

01:21:59.980 --> 01:22:02.445
Each year, she would
grow a special yellow pea

01:22:02.445 --> 01:22:05.393
to make her traditional Quebec pea soup.

01:22:07.110 --> 01:22:09.680
She would always put aside
some of the best peas

01:22:09.680 --> 01:22:12.010
for re-planting the next spring.

01:22:12.010 --> 01:22:14.733
And each year, the cycle
would start over again.

01:22:25.080 --> 01:22:27.500
Last spring, I planted
some of the pea seeds

01:22:27.500 --> 01:22:29.300
that she passed on to me.

01:22:29.300 --> 01:22:31.340
I watched them grow all summer long,

01:22:31.340 --> 01:22:34.480
and harvested them in the
fall to make her pea soup,

01:22:34.480 --> 01:22:37.723
making sure to put aside a
jar of peas for replanting.

01:22:41.880 --> 01:22:44.670
I see those seeds now
as a living bridge that

01:22:44.670 --> 01:22:47.713
connects my mom's life
to my own, reminding me

01:22:47.713 --> 01:22:50.163
of my roots and where I come from.

01:22:54.130 --> 01:22:56.410
I never could have imagined
that it would take me

01:22:56.410 --> 01:22:59.630
10 years to finish this
film, and that by the time it

01:22:59.630 --> 01:23:02.840
was done, the one person
I most wanted to share it

01:23:02.840 --> 01:23:04.693
with would not be here to see it.

01:23:06.100 --> 01:23:09.363
But I've felt her presence with
me at every step of the way.

01:23:17.260 --> 01:23:20.190
My mom passed on to me
her conviction that we all

01:23:20.190 --> 01:23:22.433
have a right to know what's in our food.

01:23:23.840 --> 01:23:26.680
Throughout her life, she
taught me to celebrate

01:23:26.680 --> 01:23:29.870
the stories behind the
foods that nourish us.

01:23:29.870 --> 01:23:32.510
And to fight for a world
where we can reclaim

01:23:32.510 --> 01:23:36.200
our seeds, our food
policies, and the meals that

01:23:36.200 --> 01:23:37.853
we share with our loved ones.

01:23:40.940 --> 01:23:44.250
She believed that with every
meal we eat, we're making

01:23:44.250 --> 01:23:47.840
a choice about the kind of
world we want to live in.

01:23:47.840 --> 01:23:51.407
It's up to each and every one
of us to make it a good one.

01:24:09.227 --> 01:24:13.227
("Awake" by Folly & The Hunter)

01:24:35.115 --> 01:24:38.534
♪ We've become a cult of inertia ♪

01:24:38.534 --> 01:24:43.534
♪ Deep into the act of remembering ♪

01:24:47.633 --> 01:24:50.909
♪ I see your reflection on the water ♪

01:24:50.909 --> 01:24:55.909
♪ Fractured to the point of forgetting ♪

01:24:59.915 --> 01:25:03.296
♪ This is a child's fear ♪

01:25:03.296 --> 01:25:08.296
♪ This is a child's fear ♪

01:25:12.497 --> 01:25:15.995
♪ Then the planet moves us from under ♪

01:25:15.995 --> 01:25:20.995
♪ And we can't remember the reasons ♪

01:25:24.854 --> 01:25:28.235
♪ Well I'm staying right here ♪

01:25:28.235 --> 01:25:33.235
♪ Well I'm staying right here ♪

01:25:35.995 --> 01:25:39.734
♪ At night ♪

01:25:39.734 --> 01:25:44.734
♪ I stay awake with you ♪

01:25:46.737 --> 01:25:51.737
♪ The way we used to do ♪

01:25:53.969 --> 01:25:58.969
♪ That fear then tames the beast ♪

01:26:01.115 --> 01:26:04.115
♪ That lives in me ♪

01:26:17.435 --> 01:26:20.554
♪ This could be the
bond that will fix me ♪

01:26:20.554 --> 01:26:25.554
♪ What's the chance of
love once you get it ♪

01:26:29.831 --> 01:26:33.078
♪ Every single burden you carry ♪

01:26:33.078 --> 01:26:38.078
♪ Makes me feel more like a heathen ♪

01:26:42.177 --> 01:26:45.265
♪ This is a child's fear ♪

01:26:45.265 --> 01:26:50.265
♪ This is a child's fear ♪

01:26:54.462 --> 01:26:57.855
♪ I'm staying right here ♪

01:26:57.855 --> 01:27:01.355
♪ I'm staying right here ♪

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