January 26, 1999: Terminator Seed Technology - Patrick Roy Mooney
The discussion reveals that 1.4 billion people worldwide depend on farm-saved seed for survival. Mooney warns that pollen from Terminator crops could spread to neighboring fields, potentially sterilizing crops of farmers who never purchased the engineered seed. A University of Chicago study suggests genetically altered plants are 20 times more likely to outcross with natural varieties, raising the specter of widespread unintended crop failure.
Mooney details how 34 related patents are pending or granted across major agrochemical corporations, with an estimated 80 percent of commercial seed projected to carry Terminator traits by 2010. He urges listeners to write Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman demanding the technology be shelved before it reaches the global marketplace.
Key Moments
Sterile seeds explained in plain English: Bell opens with a concise framing of Terminator Seed technology: 1.4 billion farmers worldwide save seed each year, and Monsanto's new technology would make those seeds sterile, replacing voluntary contracts with biological enforcement.
Long-distance suicide sequence: Mooney describes a newer generation of the patent in which the seed's suicide sequence can be triggered remotely by spraying herbicides or even fertilizer - a chemical kill switch the companies can activate at will.
Food aid as a delivery vehicle: Mooney walks Bell through how Terminator-engineered grain shipped as food aid to a country like Iraq could be planted by farmers short of seed - producing a delayed-action crop failure that looks like nothing more than humanitarian assistance.
Tetracycline soaked into the food supply: An Oklahoma caller raises a question Bell hadn't considered: tetracycline-coated Terminator seed would push antibiotic into the wheat, the soil, and the dairy chain - an antibiotic-overload problem layered on top of the sterility issue.