Recombinant DNA opens the door for the creating of limitless new species, each designed for a specific function, and all created from transplanting the genes from one organism into the genetic makeup of another. Corn is the single most important crop in the global food economy. It is fed to cattle, which in turn provides us with beef. Corn is a key ingredient in almost all processed foods, and a mainstay in most diets. Without a sufficient supply of corn, it can be argued, a country would fail to provide their citizens with the resources necessary for them to live without hunger or fear of starvation. In the global agricultural economy, corn is the king, queen, and most of the court.

To meet the growing demand, our competitors have tried various hybridization techniques, averaging a yield increase of roughly 2 percent per year. But genetic engineering has changed the game dramatically. Yields have been increasing, up to an average of 150 bushels per acre.

However, that is not nearly enough. As a result of the looming corn shortage, in the coming years, Americans will need to decrease their consumption of meat to under 12 pounds per year from an average of 250 pounds per person. Population growth; more industrialized countries; more meat-eating populations; higher demand for convenient processed foods; ethanol-based fuel; these are all factors contributing to a dramatic increase in corn demand. Meanwhile the supply side is under increasing pressure.

Single-handedly, I have developed a solution to this pending crisis. Three hundred bushels per acre of corn is now possible with the technology I have created. However, this technology requires significant genetic manipulation, firstly with a radiation-induced mutation of the African termite species Macrotermes bellicosus, and secondly, using rDNA techniques to embed the mutated termite DNA into common corn. I stumbled onto this discovery when I became curious to see how one of the insect world’s most fecund creatures could be used to engineer corn genetically to have more kernels per ear and more ears per acre. This represents a dramatic shift from the current yield projection reported by our competitors, which requires engineering corn with built-in pest and pesticide resistance.

The technology I have created, in my opinion, calls for years of testing before it can be safely sanctioned for human consumption. Secretary of Agriculture Russell Evans shared my concerns about this new product. He believed that transgenic corn, that is to say corn created using the DNA of a non-corn species, technically is not corn. In a report filed by the DOA, and now apparently lost, Secretary Evans insisted on the formation of a study commission that would have kept our new corn product out of the food supply for a minimum of five years.