Now techknow goes to the experimental fields where scientists must stay under the radar to conduct the research. People get excited about technology whether its in their phone or in their car, so why is it so wierd on their plate . Cara santa matia is a neuroscientist. What if i told you they were gmo strawberries . Huh. Shell show us the latest innovations. So these tomatoes here are special tomatoes. Then dr. Shini somara is a mechanical engineer, shell go inside the antigm movement. Do you trust scientists . And im phil torres im an entomologist. You want to make a lab cocktail . Thats our team, now lets do some science. Hey guys welcome to techknow, im phil torres joined by dr. Shini somara and Cara Santa Maria. You guys lets jump right into it. Gmos, just three letters but a whole lot of debate. And of course were talking about genetically modified organisms here, anything from tiny bacteria to fish to even giant trees. And guys this debate it targets science and scientists. Its true you know the antigmo movement its got a lot of street cred, its very popular. But its also really anti, i dont know another way to put it, its antiscience. I covered the march against monsanto and i was actually really kind of personally hurt that most people think that science is a really bad thing when it comes to gmo. Yeah and lets be real this is a sensitive one for us because were scientists. But as scientists were trained to look at the data and thats what we try to keep in mind as we investigated genetically modified foods. Genetically modified food. A subject that inspires controversy and fear. [crowd chanting] hell no gmo but one scientist is fighting back. Trying to debunk one myth at a time. Even if it means getting hate mail on a regular basis. I should have punched you in the blank face when i had the chance. If i come to florida i will make you and your family drink roundup. Stay the hmm out of florida. I hope you and your family get brain cancer so you can see what its like. Sweet people. Where does all this anger come from . I think the idea is to intimidate. I think if most scientists get this, they are unlikely to reengage with the public. Kevin folta knows a thing or two about what exactly goes into genetically modified crops after all, he is the head of the department of Horticultural Sciences at the university of florida where researchers figure out new ways of growing fruits and vegetables. Hes proud of the work, but also protective, he asked us not to disclose the location of these fields for fear that antigm activists would try to destroy them. The World Trade Organization just this week said no labels on meat. The antigm movement is global. In the eyes of many protesters, monsanto, the Worlds Largest producer of genetically engineered seeds has become nearly synonymous with gm food technology. There are currently 8 gm crops commercially available in the us corn, soy, cotton, canola, alfalfa, sugar beets, papaya and squash. Most of these are big ag crops that come from Companies Like monsanto and dupont. The Big Companies never do themselves any favors. Theyve been the last to the party to educate, they have been resistant in terms of transparency. And thats where folks like me kind of come into this. Im no big corporate friend, i look at the data and we make decisions. And we try to distill for the public, what does the science tell us . Frequently it tells them, a story they dont want to hear. One of those stories is about strawberries and how farmers in florida battle diseases that gm crops could eliminate. What youre looking at are two of the major pathogens that infect strawberries here in the state of florida. A fungal pathogen and a bacterial pathogen that devastated these plants. One of our big interests was how we could use a transgenic strategy, or this gmo type strategy to fortify a strawberry against disease. And thats this plant here, because this plant here sat in the same greenhouse, had the same warmth and the same water but didnt get sick. So walk me through what it is about this strawberry plant that makes it resist the fungus and the bacteria . Well plants have innate systems that help defend them against pests and pathogens, and this particular plant, all of these plants have a gene called npr1. The npr1 gene is part of the strawberrys immune system and is expressed on when a plant encounters a pathogen. But in foltas gm strawberries this gene is already turned on allowing the plant to have greater resistance to disease. This plant thinks that the infection has been ongoing so its essentially born thinking it has a problem. And whats nice about that is when a real pest or pathogen comes along, that plant is good to go. But growers already have a way to control diseases in strawberries conventional agriculture uses synthetic fungicides and antimicrobial sprays while organic farmers can only use compounds made from naturally occurring elements. Copper is not a very safe thing to ingest is it . No, its a heavy metal. Its expensive you have to apply it. It does accumulate in soil if you use it too much on the same soil it has risks around water. One place where we can imagine Something Like that would be hugely valuable would be on an organic farm, maybe a place where you cant use traditional fungicides. But under u. S. Guidelines organic farmers cant use gm plants. And currently no farmers can grow foltas transgenic strawberry at all. Youve shown proof of concept but they may never see a supermarket, why is that . What we are getting good at is creating Good Solutions that really end up dying in the lab. Mostly because of the fear of the technology and very rigorous deregulation process. But strawberries arent the only example from floridas experimental fields. A transgenic tomato could be an answer to a major problem. So this is what bacterial spot does as it starts to take hold. This is the beginnings of it right here. Samuel hutton is a tomato breeder at the university of florida. Hes been using genetic modification to battle a disease called bacterial spot. As the plant continues to get bigger then the leaves will get worse and worse. Lower leaves that are green now will start to die off. And youll have fruit on the bottom of the plant, exposed and those fruit are prone to sun scald. For tomato its our biggest problem in florida. Hutton thinks he has a gm solution. So these tomatoes here are special tomatoes right . Yeah, yeah, this whole trial as a comparison of transgenic tomatoes with nontransgenic varieties. So when you say transgenic youre referring to. In this case, its a pepper gene that was taken out of bell pepper and put into tomatos. It was a gene that was not there originally. You heard it right. Scientists have inserted a pepper gene known as the bs2 into tomatoes to make them resistant to bacterial spot disease. Do you think that if this were to go to market that regular consumers would be more comfortable with the idea of a gmo tomato that has genes from a pepper . Yeah, its a natural gene, we know the protein product, we know what it does, we know its safe and so Something Like that, a natural plant defense gene it might come across more palatable to some people. Palatable is key for researchers like hutton and folta who hope crops which have been modified with only genes from other plants will lead the way toward gmo acceptance. Thats where we come to the sad part. Theres only so many strawberries in the industry to produce money for farmers. Its not the kind of thing that to go through the costly deregulatory process would really be worth it. So this npr1 strawberry is not deregulated . Thats right. Not deregulated. Even though looks delicious, cant hurt you. Um, you cant eat it. Alright. Coming up, i learn how to make a gmo. Shh we want to hear what you think about these stories. Join the conversation by following us on twitter and at aljazeera. Com techknow. The iran nuclear deal. Every pathway to a Nuclear Weapon is cut off. For more depth. The narrative has shifted here in tehran. Iranians want the sanctions ended. More perspective. Every iranian will be happy. Iran cannot be trusted. More insight. Iran is actually trying to build trust with the international community. And more understanding. Stay with al jazeera america. [crowd chanting] hell no gmo few issues have so sharply divided scientists and the public than genetically modified foods. You cant just tell me its safe im supposed believe it . Im not going to. A recent pew survey revealed only 37 percent of americans believe gm foods are safe in contrast to 88 percent of scientists. The result of a fervent Grassroots Movement driven by activists like this retired school teacher. Scientists are trying to solve world food problems, by genetically engineering them. Are you against that . I dont believe that i believe they are trying to genetically modify food so they can own it all do you trust scientists . I feel like you have an aversion to them actually some of them can be trusted, but i think a lot of them cant be trusted in spite of assurances from scientists based on hundreds of peerreviewed studies, in the two decades since gm foods became availablemany people fear them. Three states have already passed laws requiring labels on all gm foods. So what is that the public need to know . The public needs to know that something is going into their food, that shouldnt really be there. The antigm movement is wellorganized. There are plenty of groups plenty of passion and plenty of information, not all of it accurate. And youre dressed as a bee. This couple blames monsanto for colony collapse syndrome but when it came to providing supporting facts, they had few. And when we asked a very basic question. So what does gmo stand for . Genetically modified, um. Neither could answer. Genetically modified. Not organic. Not organic. Its definitely not organic. Much of the opposition has a target ag giant monsanto or anyone associated with the company. [singing] yeah i want a cup of coffee but i dont want a gmo. In 2015 Rocker Neil Young released this video that went viral lashing out at starbucks. [singing] id like to start my day off without helping monsanto. In the song, young accuses starbucks along with monsanto of being part of an effort to overturn vermonts gm labeling law. But young may be wrong starbucks tells techknow it has not take a position on gmo labeling. Feeling the backlash, Food Companies are increasingly jumping on the antigm bandwagon. Chipotle recently announced it would start phasing out gm ingredients from its menu. The Fast Food Company is trying to avoid the socalled monsanto effectbad Pr Associated with gm foods. Techknow asked monsanto to participate in this report but they declined. On the street, the Company Faces an information gap that is increasingly filled with seemingly incredible allegations. They want to control the seeds all over the world. So we believe that they also do weather manipulation with geoengineering in the sky, we know they are part of that. So if they control the weather they control the seeds, they control the world. I think they are confused. I think when you make your focus to be anticorporate now you are slamming a technology that could be used by a guy like me or anybody else to solve problems for people who desperately need it. Increasingly scientists have become the target of the antigm movement. At least four University Researchers were recently served a freedom of information act order to release all of their university emails by a group called u. S. Right to know. One of them was university of florida scientist kevin folta who told techknows Cara Santa Maria that part of the story. What are they looking for . What they say is we need to know how far the tentacles of collusion between the big ag companies and university scientists, how deep these go and what they are sharing. Are you funded by large Companies Like monsanto . My laboratory has no funding from monsanto or any of the big 6, big ag companies. I dont care who, and this is a big deal, you could not pay me to fake data. Yet the mistrust is evident some of it fed by the internet paints a picture of researchers in labs creating frightening science. During our interview with activist lorna paisely you can hear how she mixes fact with fiction. They take viruses and bacteria and insecticides and put them into the dna of our food that are totally unrelated, theyre not even food most of the time. In an effort to demystify the Science Behind gmos, folta offered to show me how he makes his transgenic strawberries, using a technique involving something called, thats right agrobacterium. Agrobacterium is a soil bacterium that we think of as natures genetic engineer. What it does as a natural part of its life cycle is move part of its genome, so a piece of its genes into a plant. So this is something that happens all the time in nature . It does. Its a soil bacterium that is everywhere. But theres not just agrobacterium in this tube youve actually done something to that agrobacterium . Right rather than agrobacterium inserting the gene it wants, ive asked agrobacterium to insert the gene i want. So now what well do is very simple. All were gong to do is move our plant pieces into the medium. Do i put mine in the same tube . Sure, go ahead. So, now once we are in the medium we just give it a little shake. Okay. And well let it sit for an hour and when we come back its done. So that we pretty easy, we didnt hit with any sort of radiation, we didnt use any scary chemicals, but this is plant tissue that is technically infected with a bacterium but that bacterium has a property that is hopefully going to make the plant taste better . In this case i think its going to change fruit firmness which is one of the major reasons we cant ship really good tasting strawberries is because they are too soft. So what is this going to grow up to look like . If you look in the back corner. This is kind of the after picture. They are so cute using Gm Technology scientists can create a plant with new desirable traits in months. A process that can take conventional breeders years. And, according to folta, gm methods are more precise than conventional breeding. How many genes are being shuffled around when youre doing traditional breeding . Well each plant background might have between 30 and 50,000 genes. And when youre doing genetic modification, youre making gmo, youre making a transgenic plant, how many genes are you moving around . One, two maybe three. Its always very strange to me that we can mix together whole genomes 30,000. 80,000 genes, mix them together in ways we dont understand, using conventional breeding; but if i move 1 gene, that i understand, thats the one people get upset about. Thats what i always call the frankenfood paradox. Coming up the apple that wont ever turn brown. This might look like business as usual in the Apple Orchard rich state of washington. But these trees planted in late spring 2015 are the first approved gm apple trees ever to grow on u. S soil. The Company Okanagan specialty fruits would not reveal the exact location of the grove, but they did provide this footage. The apple is called the artic apple. The company also gave us this time lapse footage demonstrating the attributes of the fruit. The apple on the right has been genetically modified so despite the passage of time, it doesnt brown when its been cut open. After 18 years of testing, the apple got the stamp of approval from the fda, usda and epa. Are these apples safe to eat . Yes they are safe to eat. Theyve been rigorously tested by fda, really to a fault. The apple was created by engineering its own dna so it produces less of an enzyme called ppo, which causes browning. By silencing or turning off genes that control production of ppo, scientists have essentially created a nonbrowning apple. Sounds like a neat party trick but it could also help reduce food waste the big question is will consumers bite . The arctic apple is important because it goes to the consumer rather than to the farmer. And i think this is the first wave of products that well see targeted that way. When i think of sliced apples i think of soccer moms bringing snacks to her children. Do you think these soccer moms are going to be frowned upon if they say, oh those apples arent turning brown, thats so neat, why is that . oh, they are genetically modified. i think there are going to be a lot of soccer moms who freak out but at the same time youve got science moms and science moms are a pretty persuasive bunch. We wanted to see what people know and feel about gmos so we hit the streets with folta and asked them, would you eat a gm fruit if it was offered to you . So if i were to send some strawberries home with you would you eat them . Yes what if i told you they were gmo strawberries . Huh. Would you eat them . It sounds freaky. So it sounds a little freaky . Yea. What do you know about gmos . Nothing, i know organic is the way to go just with all the hormones and everything like that but i dont know a ton about gmos to be honest. They say a whole bunch of stuff can affect kids and Different Things like that. What youre saying is exactly what we hear from so many mothers, i worry about the health of my child. That is a very common concern and a very common thought, i guess do you know how many people have been sick or died from gmos as theyve been used over the 18 years theyve been used . No i have no idea. How would you feel if it was zero . A lot more comfortable about gmos. Thats good, thats good. People get excited about technology whether its in their phone or car so why is it so weird on their plate . This is where we have to think about that as scientists, how do we get them more comfortable with using technology . So what do you think this is going to take for this to get wide acceptance . For me, i think acceptance will come when its a trait that consumers can relate to and it affects a crop that they really care. I really feel citrus may be the first domino. As techknows Marita Davison first reported in 2014, a deadly disease called Citrus Greening is already devastating floridas orange groves. Genetically modified oranges could be the solution that saves the industry. The first question i want to know is, would you eat this orange . Yes. You like oranges . Yep. So were in florida and almost all of the trees are infected and dying. Oh. Now, let me ask you this, if it was a gene that came from spinach. Yeah . That you eat in all your spinach salads and you know its safe because weve been eating it for years and a scientist is telling you. How about that . Um, i guess, i guess theres really no other option if the orange trees are just dying anyway. Researchers at texas a m have shown promising results by inserting a spinach gene into orange trees in order to make them resistant to the disease. But its a race against time. Gm oranges can take years before they can be planted and bear fruit. Meanwhile over 80 percent of floridas orange trees are infected and could be wiped out within a decade. Theres a sense of urgency for us to produce a solution. Manjul dutt is a citrus researcher who is working on solutions that could speed up mother nature, like the Gm Technology behind this purple lime. This transgenic lime gets its ruby color from another fruit. Its the same gene that produces the red color in grapes. But the color isnt just for fun, it helps gm researchers figure out if their gene transfers have been successful. We started working with that gene to use it as a selectable marker. You can have a culture dish that has ten million cells growing out and you can individual go and pick the ones that are purple in color and just discard the ones that are not. And so this is really a way at least in the earlier stages to know which of your plants have the gene of interest and which of them dont . Absolutely. These purple limes also have a second transgene taken from another citrus fruit, the clementine. Its called the ft gene. This enhanced ft gene allows citrus trees to mature faster. Dutt showed me an example of a three month old seedling. So as a lay person i look at this and im like, oh its a cute little plant, but if i was a farmer it would blow my mind to see these small seedlings already at a flowering stage. Absolutely, absolutely. In contrast seedlings without the ft gene can take 7 to 8 years before they flower and start bearing fruit. If scientists are able to speed up the aging process of citrus plants, they could more quickly confirm whether some varieties of gm oranges are resistant to Citrus Greeningand save the florida orange. Not to mention. Purple margaritas could be the next big thing. You want to make a lab cocktail . Oh absolutely, lets do it meanwhile scientists will continue basic research on fruits like this so theyll have gm crops waiting in the wings, for when the public wants or needs them. I think weve learned that a disease shows up you better have something ready to combat it rather than kind of looking for a solution after the disease is there. So guys were talking about possibly having these gm foods end up at our homes. Cara you snuck a bite, what was it like . Tasted like a strawberry. I mean it was a really good strawberry, i dont think it was because it was genetically modified, i think that kevin just knows how to grow a good strawberry. I think anything that involves a laboratory, a petri dish, and a pipette is gonna scare people, because its to do with their food, and people just want to grow it and eat it. I mean yeah to be fair when you see a petri dish you dont necessarily get hungry. When you see a beautiful cornfield that looks like its their family farm, youre like ok, thats what they want to eat. There are many things that concern me about gmo but one of the strongest things is that, ya know, the innovation is brilliant, what the scientists do is brilliant. Genetically modifying anything is pioneering, but we dont know the implications. And the implications are so complex, its many degrees removed from just taking a gene. Its altering ecosystems, and we dont know how thats happening. And that is one of the struggles here is the environmental implications that these things can potentially have. And thats what were trying to understand. But if you look at the amount of pesticides or antibiotics, things like that that were dumping into our ecosystems and weve been doing for decades and you compare that to using gm crops, lots of times they dont quite balance out. Definitely. Yes obviously a complicated and fascinating topic and well continue to follow the science and the controversy to keep you up to date on the debate. Thats it for now, join us next time here on techknow. Dive deep into these stories and go behind the scenes at aljazeera. Com techknow. Follow our expert contributors on twitter, facebook, instagram, google and more. The fda isnt testing enough. Now science is pursuing an organic alternative. These companies are trying out new technologies. No hormones are ever added into our tanks. Mmm techknows team of experts show you how the miracles of science. Im standing in a tropical windstorm. Can affect and surprise us. Wow, some of these are amazing. Techknow where Technology Meets humanity. This is aljazeera america. Im richelle care in new york. Here are todays top stories. A young sailor dice from his wounds, two communities mourning the loss of the petty officer Randall Smith chattanooga and his hometown in ohio. 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