The world according to Monsanto : pollution, corruption, and

144 the world according to monsanto“We have a fabulous herbicide,” says a voice off-camera.Then Bush walks through the greenhouses on the Chesterfield Villageroof, where a Monsanto executive in suit and tie shows him transgenictomato plants that turn out to be the real purpose of this self-serving guidedtour. Next comes an absolutely astounding conversation: “And we have beforeUSDA right now a request to test this for the first time on a farm in Illinoisthis year,” the executive says.“We keep hallucinating about it ...the expense goes up and nothing happens,”says Rogers.“And I would say quite frankly we have no complaint about the wayUSDA is handling it,” the executive goes on. “They’re going through an orderlyprocess; they’re making sure as they deal with these new things [that]they do them properly, and uh, no, if we’re waitin’ until September and wedon’t have our authorization we may say somethin’ different!”“Call me, I’m in the dereg business,” says Bush with a great burst of laughter.“I can help.”On June 2, 1987, exactly two weeks after the amazing guided tour, theMonsanto researchers conducted their first field test of transgenic crops inJerseyville, Illinois. There is a photograph showing Stephen Rogers, RobertFraley, and Rob Horsch posing in front of a tractor wearing farmer’s caps.Facing them are crates containing tomato shoots manipulated through themagical power of the bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens.Political Regulation Made to OrderGeorge H.W. Bush assumed the presidency in January 1989. In March, heappointed his vice president, Dan Quayle, to head the Council on Competitiveness,“with responsibility for reducing the regulatory burden on theeconomy.” 25 On May 26, 1992, Vice President Quayle presented Americanpolicy on GMOs in front of an audience of business executives, governmentofficials, and reporters. “We are taking this step as part of the President’s regulatoryrelief initiative, now in its second phase,” he declared at the outset.“The United States is already the world leader in biotechnology and we wantto keep it that way. In 1991 alone, it was a $4 billion industry. It should reachat least $50 billion by the year 2000, as long as we resist the spread of unnecessaryregulation.”