Chakrabarty appealed the PTO decision to the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (CCPA). To everyone’s surprise the CCPA, in a narrow three-to-two judgment, reversed the PTO decision and granted a patent for the oil-consuming microbe. It stated that, "the fact that the mico-organisms are ... alive ... (is) without legal significance."

The landmark decision placed the development of novel living organisms into the same patentable "intellectual property" category as a new widget; Pandora’s box of genetic possibilities was officially open.

• The U.S. chemical and pesticide industries began purchasing seed companies. The end result is that Monsanto now owns 11,000 patents on seeds themselves.

• In 2001, Starlink corn ended up in taco shells despite it never being approved for human consumption. Toxic allergic reactions were widespread and if it were not for consumer watchdog groups providing independent testing, the source of the toxic reactions to Starlink corn would not have been discovered.

Soon after this incident, the FDA and EPA determined that genetically modified food was "substantially equivalent" to non-genetically modified food and was put on the GRAS list (generally recognized as safe). The FDA has resisted labeling GM-containing products though 80-90 percent of Americans want GM foods labeled.

• Calgene corporation’s "Flavor Savour" tomato was the first genetically engineered food crop put on the market for human consumption. Despite three independent studies done on this tomato showing that several rats developed lesions in their stomachs after consuming this tomato, the FDA approved it for human consumption in May, 1994. Ironically, it was eventually pulled off the market due to consumers not liking the flavor of the "Flavor Savour" tomato.

• Over 9,000 U.S. farmers received letters from Monsanto’s lawyers accusing them of patent infringement. There are over 100 active lawsuits in America alone. The goal is to scare farmers from saving their own seeds. Seventy-five percent of the world’s 1.4 billion farmers depend on saved seed as their primary seed source.

• Superweeds are now proliferating as a result of the herbicide "Round-Up." Now farmers are spraying more and more dangerous, toxic herbicides like 2-4D in an attempt to control the superweeds. 2-4D contains dioxins, one of the most poisonous substances on our planet. And as Dr. Tenpenny notes in her book, FOWL! Bird Flu - It’s Not What You Think, dioxins that have traveled up the food chain are the real source of animals and humans exhibiting symptoms popularly identified as "avian flu".

• Babies are now being fed soy formula that may have been formulated using GM soy. If the baby has a toxic reaction or dies as a result, we will never know since no labeling is required. However, if the formula was labeled as being made with GM soy, it would be considered among the other possibilities of causes for a toxic allergic reaction. Labeling is THE key to a database being created to track the grand experiment going on today and could eventually lead to corporate liability.

• Other countries are alarmed over GM foods proliferating and are watching what happens to America’s children as a result of "the largest biological experiment humanity has ever entered into."

This is THE film that will inspire you to take charge of your community’s food supply while supporting local organic farmers. This 90-minute DVD is ideal for public showings at your local library or theater.

"A haunting and amazing documentary that lays bare the pernicious re-engineering of the world’s food system. Where did insecticides first come from? (Wartime nerve gas.) Monsanto, the giant of seed patenting, now registers its larva-killing corn as an insecticide. Follow the story of Percy Schmeiser, the Canadian farmer whose generations of carefully developed seeds had to be destroyed, thanks to a Monsanto lawsuit. Not only are we losing biological diversity as this film points out, we are losing intellectual diversity. And if agribusiness’s "suicide gene" blows into fields and meadows worldwide, what will happen to our food supply?" ~ Sofia Smallstorm, producer of "9/11 Mysteries"

This two-disc set includes the 90 min. documentary plus a Special Features disc that includes:

• Michael Pollan on The Cost of Food - Excerpt from a panel for a Slow Foods sponsored event

• The Happy Box - A film about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) by Erica Filanc

• How to Save Seeds from Vegetables - A film by Underwood Gardens

• Planting Seeds - A film about School Farming programs by the city of Santa Monica

• GE Free recipes by Deborah Madison, Mollie Katzen, and more...

• Excerpts from 4 films about farmers - "My Father’s Garden," "Troublesome Creek," "Ripe for Change" and a film about Michael Ableman

• Taking Action Toolkit & web resources

(Available from The Idaho Observer for $25)