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I'm John Donovan. This is Intelligent Squared U.S.

And nature has many unknowns, but one certainty is that tomatoes and fish do not have sex with each other.

They never have. And yet one of the most famous or some might say infamous feats of genetic engineering was the development of a tomato whose DNA was mingled with DNA from a fish

which gave it a longer life on the vine. And it worked.

Then there's corn where today some 90% of the corn grown in the United States has its DNA mixed with DNA that comes from a bacterium so that it will stand up better to pests.

And that works. And is this a good thing, this genetic engineering, that nature could never accomplish on its own?

Is it a safe thing? Is it necessary? Well, those questions sound like the makings of a debate. So let's have it.

Yes or no to this statement genetically modify food a debate from Intelligent Squared U.S.

I'm John Donovan. We are at the Kaufman Music Center in New York City.

We have four superbly qualified debaters, two against two who will argue for and against this motion.

As always our debate will go in three rounds. And then the live audience here in New York votes to choose the winner and only one side wins.

Our motion is genetically modified food. Let's meet the team first arguing for the motion. Please let's welcome Robert Frailey.

And Rob you are Executive Vice President Chief Technology Officer at Monsanto. You've worked there 30 years.

You are the winner of the World Food Prize Laureate. That's an award often described as the Nobel for food and agriculture.

And it's related to this debate because of your work on what exactly? Well thanks John. That was a award given along with two of my academic colleagues for basically developing the tools that allowed us to create the GMO crops.

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