The world according to Monsanto : pollution, corruption, and

the invention of gmos 143fruit: “In the weeks and months that followed, the White House complied,working behind the scenes to help Monsanto . . . get the regulations thatit wanted. It was an outcome that would be repeated, again and again,through three administrations. What Monsanto wished for from Washington,Monsanto—and, by extension, the biotechnology industry—got.” 22To understand just how unusual Monsanto’s approach was, one has toconsider that at the time some high FDA officials were absolutely opposedto the idea of regulating GMOs, even in the form of a document that wouldbe an “appearance of regulation.” This was so, for instance, for Henry Miller,the agency spokesman for biotechnology, who had no compunctions aboutcalling GMO opponents “troglodytes” or “intellectual Nazis” and whom theWhite House would have to fight hard. 23But that wasn’t all. The New York Times was able to get its hands on a draftof a secret document, dated October 13, 1986, in which the company’s directorsestablished a veritable battle plan to impose GMOs in the UnitedStates. Among the primary objectives were “‘creating support for biotechnologyat the highest U.S. policy levels,’ and working to gain endorsementsfor the technology in the presidential platforms of both the Republican andDemocratic Parties in the 1988 election.” 24In fact, I found evidence on film of the company’s boundless selfconfidence:it was capable of expressing thinly veiled threats to GeorgeBush when it felt the administration was resisting it. I was able to seeextraordinary archive footage filmed on May 15, 1987, by the AssociatedPress. It shows Ronald Reagan’s vice president, who was then running forpresident, walking through Monsanto’s St. Louis laboratories wearing awhite coat. Followed by a pack of reporters, the future president first participatesin a class on genetic manipulation.“What I’d like to do today is show you some of the steps we go throughwhen we’re moving genes from one organism to another,” explains StephenRogers, one of Uphoria’s three rising stars, with a test tube in his hand. “Wetake DNA, cut it apart, mix different pieces together, and then rejointhem. . . . This tube contains DNA that was made from a bacterium. DNAwould look the same whether it was from a plant or an animal.”“Oh, I see,” says George Bush, his eyes fixed on the test tube. “This willlead you to do what? To have a stronger plant? Or a plant that resists . . .”“In this case it resists the herbicide,” Rogers answers.