How seeds were engineered to be pesticide resistant

Robyn O'Brien, Author of The Unhealthy Truth, explains how seeds have been engineered to be pesticide resistant and the two traits that were introduced into seeds to do so.
How Seeds Were Engineered To Be Pesticide Resistant
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How seeds were engineered to be pesticide resistant

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So, how have our seeds been engineered to be pesticide resistant? You know, there were two traits that were introduced to these seeds that our foods come from. The first trait was trait was that the soybean was engineered to withstand increasing doses of a weed-killer called Round-Up. It's the same weed killer that we're told not to keep under our kitchen sinks, because of fear for the harm that it might cause a child if he or she accidentally gets into it. And now after the introduction of this genetically-engineered soybean, 15-20 years ago, we have seen 500 million more pounds of this weed killer poured onto our food crops. The second example of a type of seed that has been genetically engineered is our corn. Corn was engineered due to this growing concern of the spraying of these insecticides over corn fields, and so scientists, using this new technology, engineered this corn so that it can produce its own insecticide internally. That is such a fundamentally different shift in the way corn is produced that that corn is now regulated by the EPA as a pesticide.

Robyn O'Brien, Author of The Unhealthy Truth, explains how seeds have been engineered to be pesticide resistant and the two traits that were introduced into seeds to do so.

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Robyn O'Brien

Author, The Unhealthy Truth

Robyn O'Brien is recognized by Teri Hatcher, Kourtney Kardashian, Kristen Bell and moms around the world.  She has been called “food’s Erin Brockovich” by The New York Times and has been named by SHAPE Magazine as a “Women To Shape the World”, by Forbes Woman as one of “20 Inspiring Women to Follow on Twitter,” and by The Discovery Channel as one of its 15 Top Visionaries. She is a former food industry analyst, author, mother of four and the founder of AllergyKids Foundation. Robyn graduated as the top woman in her class from business school before working as a financial analyst that covered the food industry. She is regarded as an expert on children’s health policy.  She has appeared on CNN, The Dr Oz show, Today Show, Good Morning America, CNBC's Kudlow Report, Fox News and the Ricki Lake Show and has appeared in several documentary films, including Food Patriots, Unacceptable Levels, Genetic Roulette.  

Robyn’s work has been recognized by individuals such as Yoko Ono, Robert Kennedy Jr., Ted Turner and Prince Charles. She is the founder of the visionary organization allergykidsfoundation.org which is focused on restoring the integrity of the food supply and the health of children, the author of The Unhealthy Truth (Random House 2010) and her work is seen in Food, Inc. filmmaker Robert Kenner’s 2012 video, Labels Matter, and in Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.

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Transcription: 
So, how have our seeds been engineered to be pesticide resistant? You know, there were two traits that were introduced to these seeds that our foods come from. The first trait was trait was that the soybean was engineered to withstand increasing doses of a weed-killer called Round-Up. It's the same weed killer that we're told not to keep under our kitchen sinks, because of fear for the harm that it might cause a child if he or she accidentally gets into it. And now after the introduction of this genetically-engineered soybean, 15-20 years ago, we have seen 500 million more pounds of this weed killer poured onto our food crops. The second example of a type of seed that has been genetically engineered is our corn. Corn was engineered due to this growing concern of the spraying of these insecticides over corn fields, and so scientists, using this new technology, engineered this corn so that it can produce its own insecticide internally. That is such a fundamentally different shift in the way corn is produced that that corn is now regulated by the EPA as a pesticide.