Modified

Who gets to own seeds is a question at the heart of the GMO wars. To answer that we can head back to 1930 to the first ever law granting patent protection to plants. But ultimately we have to dig even deeper into the role of capitalism in the modern market economy. 

Henry Agard Wallace was FDRs Vice-President. That is a pretty big deal in itself. But he also kick started the most consequential scientific project in the history of mankind (at least according to some) - The Green Revolution. A technological transformation of global agriculture, combining the cutting edge of mechanical, chemical and genetic technology. And the year was 1940. '

What was the green revolution? What is a semi-dwarf variety and what would HA Wallace make of it all, looking back on his legacy. Tune in and find out. 

A short episode to give you a sense of what to expect from this season. 

https://www.the-independent.com/news/the-strange-case-of-the-rats-the-coverup-and-a-political-hot-potato-1071126.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pusztai_affair

A quick update on what to expect from Season 2 and when to expect it. 

What is CRISPR-Cas9 and how is it going to revolutionize the world of GMO crops?

de Lange, O., Binder, A. and Lahaye, T. (2014), From dead leaf, to new life: TAL effectors as tools for synthetic biology. Plant J

→ Review article on TAL effectors by yours truly

Ishino Y, Shinagawa H, Makino K, Amemura M, Nakata A. Nucleotide sequence of the iap gene, responsible for alkaline phosphatase isozyme conversion in Escherichia coli, and identification of the gene product. J Bacteriol. 1987

→ Paper first describing CRISPR in 1987

Interview with the 2020 Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry, Emmanuelle Charpentier, recorded in Stockholm on 12 December 2022. 

Martin Jinek et al.,A Programmable Dual-RNA–Guided DNA Endonuclease in Adaptive Bacterial Immunity.Science337,816-821(2012).

—> First paper describing use of CRISPR as a programmable DNA endonuclease

Updates on Global Regulatory Landscape for Gene-Edited Crops

By Clement Dionglay, January 24, 2024

https://www.isaaa.org/blog/entry/default.asp?BlogDate=1/24/2024

-> Update on regulation of gene editing. 

https://sanatech-seed.com/en/221226-2/

→ Article from Sanatech describing the gene-edited, High GABA tomato.

From glowing petunias to purple tomatoes - this episode is a roundup of some of the lesser known GMO crops that are nonetheless out there in our world. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Gonsalves

From glowing fish to feminizing tofu - the second and final installment of me answering your questions about GMO. 

Why did Monsanto take a canadian farmer all the way to the supreme court? And what does this have to do with controversial herbicide glyphosate?

Learn about the science and history of Round Up Ready GMO crops.

https://decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/fc-cf/decisions/en/item/38991/index.do

→ The Monsanto vs. Schmeiser Supreme Court Decision.

https://www.helbocklaw.com/california-jury-awards-2-billion-couple-roundup-weed-killer-cancer-trial/

→ Article about California lawsuit related to glyphosate

https://academic.oup.com/toxsci/article/192/2/131/7066927#402719028

→ Review of glyphosate studies. 

Landau et al., The silver bullet that wasn’t: Rapid agronomic weed adaptations to glyphosate in North America, PNAS Nexus, Volume 2, Issue 12, December 2023, pgad338,

https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/60663500/publications/reddy/reddy%20and%20nandula_2-12_ija_57-1-7.pdf

→ Overview of herbicide resistant crops.

The NewLeaf potato was a failure, appearing and disappearing in under a decade. But it was the first of a new wave of GMO crops that have endured to the present day - Bt crops. 

Insect Resistance in Crops: A Case Study of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and its Transfer to Developing Countries. 1997.

The chronicle of the ups and downs that made Bacillus thuringiensis a natural insecticide by Ninfa Rosas-Garcia, 2023. 

https://dfg-vk-darmstadt.de/Lexikon_Auflage_2/BerlinerErnst.htm

Biographical details about Ernst Berliner. 

https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-practices-management/biotechnology

→ 2025 USDA data on Bt crops

https://farmingfirst.org/2025/12/how-africa-can-benefit-from-south-africa-success-with-gm-crops/

⇒ GMO crops in South Africa. 

https://farmingfirst.org/2025/12/how-africa-can-benefit-from-south-africa-success-with-gm-crops/

⇒ GMO crops in Kenya

Rise and fall of the New Leaf Potato - https://krautnah.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/15_7_2_Thornton.pdf. 

https://time.com/archive/6925559/why-mcdonalds-pulled-frankenfries-from-menu/TIME article about lack of commercial interest in NewLeaf potato. 

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/1999/04/toxic-pollen-bt-corn-can-kill-monarch-butterflies

https://academic.oup.com/jee/article/116/2/297/6968925

→ 2023 review paper on Bt crops and resistance

https://www.monarchscience.org/single-post/2020/09/02/a-look-back-at-the-time-when-the-entire-world-thought-bt-corn-was-killing-monarchs

→ Blog post summarizing the incident

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0001415

→ Bt crops and bees

https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.241503398

→ read this and see if its useful

How one tomato changed the world? Or was it two? And what is a GMO tomato anyway. Slice into the story of the FlavrSavr tomato. 

https://www.supermarketnews.com/grocery-operations/altered-stakes

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/jun/14/hot-tomatoes-genetically-altered-tomatoes-are/

→ Articles about the sales of the Flavr Savr.

Commercialization_of_a_tomato_with_an_antisense_po.pdf - 1994, Euphytica

The Flavr Savr Tomato, an Early Example of RNAi Technology.pdf - 2008, HortScience