 Cine. The Council on International Non-Theatrical Events has awarded this film a Cine Golden Eagle in token of its excellence and has selected it to represent the United States of America in international motion picture events abroad. Is the Fuel for Human Accomplishment. Ancient links between humans and plants began about 10,000 years ago and continue today. Yet they are not often obvious in a society where food and spices are born of supermarket shelves or drive-up windows. Did potatoes come from Idaho or from ancient civilizations of the South American Andes? Did corn come from the American Midwest or from ancient grass-like plants of the Mexican Highlands? Did chili peppers come from Texas or does their heritage lie in southern tropical rainforests? And if these foods do come from such exotic places and ancient civilizations, how did they become a staple in the Irish diet, a major spice in Oriental cuisine, or a snack few American moviegoers can do without? Since that fateful day, Spanish explorers first set foot in the Americas. Time has proven their lasting treasures were not the gold and silver guarded in heavy chests, quickly consumed by governments and greed. Rather, new world plants became the enduring treasures, the benevolent conquerors of civilizations around the globe. While many of these green gold treasures remain highly prized, tomatoes, peanuts, cocoa and many beans, three new world plants have had enormous influences throughout the world. Corn and potatoes have helped feed the world's massive populations, while chili peppers spice cuisines from New Orleans to the United States Capitol. Today, however, the wild and weedy ancestors of these plants and the fragile ecosystems that support them are in severe jeopardy. Nearly five centuries ago, explorers came in search of riches they believed would ensure survival in a hostile and competitive world. Five hundred years later, new world explorers continue the search, this time, however, not to plunder but to preserve. It's been a real demanding trip searching for these wild chili peppers. These plants hold genetic secrets that will impact agriculture, industry, even medicine. Many people look at these wild species as worthless weeds, but hidden within that plant are genes that are invaluable, worth more than the gold or money in the world because you cannot replace it or duplicate them now. Paul Bosland, a plant geneticist at New Mexico State University, is following the footsteps of Paul Stanley, who in 1939 documented various wild species of chili, also called capsicum, in the Guatemalan highlands. Bosland and assistant Max Gonzalez, however, have encountered a number of disturbing changes. One of the frustrations we found following Stanley's expedition through Guatemala is that agriculture has expanded and the native vegetation really no longer exists in the spots that Paul Stanley was at. And what we have is other kinds of farming and the wild capsicum species cannot survive under those conditions. What we see here is the population growing, people trying to exist and trying to grow agricultural crops. And what they've done is displaced the natural vegetation for the maize, the sweet potato, and are growing that on the hillsides you see behind us. Not to be deterred, Bosland leaves Stanley's path, seeking the advice of locals who might lead him to the elusive peppers. At this agricultural plantation, Bosland hopes to find isolated pockets of wild flora in the surrounding brush. Unfortunately, the few wild areas left are under constant attack by slash and burn activities by the plantation workers. One of the unfortunate aspects of these wild species is that they are weeds. They have no economic value, commercial value for local people to use in a sense they try to eradicate it. As a last resort, Bosland searches local marketplaces attempting to find the valuable genetic treasure of the wild chili peppers. After visiting a number of areas, fear grows that the genetic treasures which existed in Guatemala only a half century ago cannot be found. Population demands on natural areas, deforestation and urbanization have all severely affected the environment. It's been a very disappointing trip in a sense for me not being able to find these species. The biggest disappointment is that we've lost this species forever, that we won't be able to use it for the potential products that could come about in the future. What it means to us is that these species are extinct, they're used, they're valuable, genetic resource is gone forever. It doesn't matter how much money you have, you can't bring the species back and so it's a loss not only for us but for future generations. Sally McKenzie, a molecular geneticist at Purdue University, is worried. She sees the raw material for her research disappearing at a startling rate. McKenzie relies on people like Paul Bosland to seek out these new world treasures bearing genes needed for our modern crops. Without this genetic variability, or germplasm as scientists call it, the future of the world's food supply looks bleak. Well right now our diversity is all that we've got available for developing new varieties. So in essence, if we lose the genetic diversity we have for any one crop then our plant breeding efforts in many respects come to a halt. The concern is real when one considers that of approximately 20,000 plants with edible or usable parts available on earth, humans have only domesticated a mere 100 and only 22 of these are major crops that feed the world. Since the dawn of agriculture, humans have manipulated plants to alter the way they look, how much they produce and their resistance to insects or diseases. Ancient Mayan farmers saved seed from plants with desirable traits while contemporary plant geneticists identify specific traits and transfer them from one plant to another. But when the range of traits chosen becomes increasingly narrow, when genetically diverse varieties are replaced with varieties that are extremely similar and when the environments that support the wild relatives of our crops are destroyed, the process of putting affordable food on the table breaks down. Dr. Hugh Iltis is no stranger to this narrowing of genetic diversity in the environment. As curator of the plant or barium at the University of Wisconsin and expert on the origins of corn, he spent much of his life searching for new world treasures in the mountains, jungles and traditional farmers' fields of the Americas. There are many areas in the world that have enormous diversity of cultivated plant germplasm. For example, central Mexico, western Mexico where I work in Sierra de Manantlan, in that general area there are 35 races of corn, quite distinctive ones. They have different physical attributes. In Peru, in the mountains of Peru, there are many 60 or 70 named cultivated varieties that the people grow. And if you substitute for all this diversity, one or two cultivated strains that are very high yielding under optimum conditions, you wipe out all this genetic diversity that partly nature and partly human selection over the last 5,000, 6,000 years has put there. My feeling is one of real concern about germplasm. I'm most concerned that we have lost the genetic diversity that we had available by deforestation, by destruction of many of our natural habitats. And by doing that, we have seriously cut ourselves short and particularly our children because essentially the problem will only worsen. When you're looking at genetic diversity, we have enough genetic diversity for the varieties that we're developing right now. But what happens in the future as our germplasm base becomes narrower and narrower? University-based scientists aren't the only ones asking this question. It also concerns researchers at many international agricultural institutes such as the International Maze and Wheat Improvement Center, known as CIMET, located in Mexico. These institutes help developing countries improve agricultural productivity. Their scientists ponder the future of genetic resources needed to develop plant varieties that require less water or chemicals. That's one reason CIMET maintains one of the largest seed banks in the world, containing over 11,000 genetically different types of corn. The research here has helped reduce world hunger. But these scientists also realize some of the drawbacks to introducing modern, high-yielding varieties into traditional farming systems. When we introduce varieties that we think will be higher producing, what happens is because in fact they are higher producing, every grower in a developing country wants to grow the materials we provide, and we essentially replace the genetic diversity that was originally there with what we have provided, which is a much narrower germplasm base. But why do farmers and agricultural scientists insist on breeding these genetically similar crops? The answer can be found here. Our consumers demand uniformity in crops. You don't want to go into a store and find very large tomatoes, very small tomatoes all in one bunch. You want the largest, best-looking, best-tasting tomatoes you can find. Well, that requires that demand uniformity. It also demands high yield. The only way you can do that really is in a monoculture situation right now. So what it means is you have one combination of genes in a whole large agricultural area. If a disease were to infect, that disease is able to infect the entire area. And every plant is uniformly, equally susceptible to that devastation. The Maya. This sophisticated Mesoamerican civilization flourished for centuries before the arrival of the Europeans. As with all successful cultures, the Maya established a reliable food supply. Their agricultural predecessors began experimenting with wild grasses some 8,000 years ago. By saving seeds from their best plants, the ways or corn was constantly improved. It became the pivotal point of meals, religious ceremonies, and even the scheduling of wars. Centuries before Columbus, however, the Mayan civilization began to crumble. The reasons for this rapid decline continue to be hotly debated. Warfare and disease are often proposed theories. No one is certain. But some anthropologists believe that genetic erosion of the corn crop helped topple this powerful ancient empire. They developed a special type of terracing system and began to rely more and more on a narrow genetic base. That is, planted fewer and fewer varieties of maize on those terraces. And that, as happens today, a disease, probably some kind of maize mosaic, came along and destroyed the corn at that particular point in time. And that was the trigger which led to the collapse of the Maya civilization. Over dependence on new world crops has occurred repeatedly in the last 500 years, altering the course of human events. By the 1800s, the potato had migrated from the Andean Highlands to the Old World, where it eventually became a staple of the Northern European diet. Because of its exceptionally high yield, this wondrous tuber fed vast populations and was in part responsible for fueling the Industrial Revolution. Then tragedy struck. One of the great disasters of the last century was the great potato famine in Ireland. And the sole cause of that was the fact that the Irish had come to depend on one variety of potato. And that variety was not tolerant to what is called late blight. And there was by accident a crate of potatoes introduced from Mexico, where this phytophthora of late blight evolved into Ireland. And immediately, because every spud was like every other spud, it completely wiped out all of the production in Ireland. So that suddenly people that were eating 15 pounds of potatoes a day had no potatoes to eat. And the result was 2 million, 3 million people died. Not only in Ireland, but across the rest of Europe. What happens if in North America, such as in the 1970s, we have another corn blight and it reduces only the corn production by 20%. At the same time other events occur, disastrous events. We could find ourselves very quickly in the same situation as the Maya were 7,000 years ago. Although a narrow genetic base in corn is only one theory in the Mayan demise, there's no doubt that this and other Mesoamerican civilizations flourished largely because of these green gold treasures. In the 1990s, these treasures are often hidden beneath the layers of styrofoam, cellophane and cardboard. Just like ancient civilizations, however, our society thrives and survives on these New World treasures. The New World foods have not only changed the course of history, they've also changed the way we look at foods, the way we feel about foods and of course the way we prepare foods. Potatoes are the world's most popular vegetable and in the United States alone, 120 pounds per person are consumed every year. Potato chips top the snack food popularity charts and frozen french fries are the number one frozen vegetable in the world. Corn, potatoes and chili hide in many processed foods. Just check the label. About half the nation's sweeteners come from corn and potato-based additives make soups, sauces and dairy products creamy. Chili is a commonly used natural red food coloring. Salsa has dethroned ketchup as the number one condiment. Chili is going to become a very important part of the American diet, not only in the Southwest but here also on the East Coast. New York is a very sophisticated, very adventurous and when you give them something good and you give them all these chilies to try, they have a great variety of flavors and they love it. These New World treasures feed our sweet tooth. Y'all like to try some? It's really good. Help us unwind. Hello baby! And even make us laugh. Products containing corn, potatoes and chili make us look better, soothe tired feet and warm sore muscles and help protect us. Over a thousand police departments all over the country have switched to capsaicin-based sprays rather than the old chemical sprays like mace. Throughout history, these treasures have been worshipped. They have been celebrated by individuals and the general public across the country. From the whole enchilada fiesta in New Mexico to the world potato exposition in Idaho to the Mitchell Corn Palace in South Dakota all this adds up to economic growth. Today's yearly world potato crop is worth more than all the gold and silver the Spanish took from the Americas and chili fever is fueling new economic opportunities for the agricultural and food industries. Corn is a major U.S. export crop and has a big impact on our nation's balance of payments. In addition to feeding livestock for meat production refining and processing a $3.00 bushel of corn can generate over $12.00 in jobs, taxes, supplies and transportation. When Columbus hoisted the sails on his three tiny ships and launched into the Great Void neither he nor his daring crew could have imagined the tremendous impact their journey would have on the world. Today, the legacy of these intrepid explorers lives on. NASA has become very interested in using potatoes and some other plans for life-supporting space. Our work here at Wisconsin is concentrated on determining the potential of potatoes and how to use it effectively in space systems. The first work that we did for NASA was to show how many potatoes it would take to keep a person alive and really how much space it would take to grow potatoes. And we were able to show that an area of about 15 feet by 15 feet was sufficient area to keep a person alive continuously in space. Scientists speculate that we have only grazed the surface in terms of medicinal uses for our plant genetic resources. Frank Etzkorn, the New Mexico TAC experimental psychologist who invented the nicotine patch, is looking at the possibility that the substance that makes chili peppers hot could be instrumental in reducing pain. We'll put powdered habanero pepper about a fourth of a gram or a little bit less on each one of their tongues and then we'll have them rate the pain as it increases, as it invariably will. And at that point we're suspecting that the body is probably releasing endorphins to try to help attenuate that pain. Once the pain diminishes, Etzkorn gives the subjects Narcan to lower their endorphin levels. In most cases, the pain returns. Who would have guessed 50 years ago that eating chili was somewhat akin to an injection of morphine? But that may be what we're talking about. So we're tapping a very ancient mechanism. There's no doubt about that. And it's precise function for ancient humans. We really don't know. You can speculate on that. But what we might find in the future for its use, that's what's exciting. Exciting as it is, the future of scientific discovery is dependent on having the necessary genetic material. Even with the modern advancements of microbiology, researchers will be severely limited unless diverse plant populations are available. Here, in a remote Arizona canyon, efforts to preserve such genetic treasures have already begun. Working with the non-profit Seed Saver Organization, Native Seed Search, Kevin Dahl maintains what is thought to be the only designated wild chili preserve in the United States. In this protected area, the wild chili plants are preserved in their natural state so they can continue to develop genetic resistance to new diseases, insects, and environmental stresses. This is the wild cheltepeen plant here in the wild chili reserve. We're preserving it in sight. Of course, we've also collected seeds and have it in our seed bank in their frozen high-tech storage, but preserving the population intact where it's been growing for centuries gives us both a better protection that it will be preserved, but also a lot more information about how it interacts with the plants and animals around it. In every little canyon around here, different populations of these wild chilies have different genetic characteristics. People come to the Sonoran Desert and see, in some cases, a wasteland, but when I look at the Sonoran Desert, I see a treasure house of genetic material. Faced with alarming threats to genetic diversity, national and international scientific organizations are developing preservation systems involving a variety of storage techniques and sites. Garrison Wilkes, University of Massachusetts botanist, has seen some encouraging developments internationally, especially with preserving a wild relative of corn called Teosinte. I think in some parts of the developing world, there will be a willingness, and I've already seen it in Guatemala, to save Teosinte, the case in point being Teosinte, because it's something that was uniquely theirs in the whole world. Francisco Vasquez, an agricultural specialist in Guatemala, makes special note of the wild relatives of new world treasures, especially Teosinte, which he finds in his country. These are endangered species, so we should rescue these species, keeping some seeds in some gene banks. Secondly, we should try to conserve these species in its natural conditions. In the United States, genetic resources are gathered, catalogued and preserved at many different levels. At the most basic level, private seed-saving organizations are preserving heirloom and traditional seeds shared within families or Native American tribes. We started trying to find other people who were also maintaining heirloom varieties and have gradually linked them together into a network. Various state and regional storage facilities maintain working collections and short-term storage for specific crops. Multiple locations minimize losses if one facility is destroyed. Genetic resources are also maintained at the National Seed Storage Laboratory in Fort Collins, Colorado. Plant collectors will go out and they'll collect this material. They always share it with the country that they are bringing it from. They'll bring it back to this country, put it in storage, and it is our responsibility then to maintain that in storage for eternity. Seeds are living organisms and require special care to preserve their genetic treasures. Our biggest problem is we're long-term storage. And if we could store a seed for eternity without it dying, that would be our goal. And so seed deterioration is the big problem. Once a seed is produced in the field, it starts to deteriorate immediately. Our goal in preserving seed is to decrease the deterioration to a level which will allow it to live for many, many years. We're hoping with liquid nitrogen storage that we can have seeds living for 100 or maybe even 200 years. It is with a sense of urgency that scientists continue to search, collect, preserve, and maintain these living resources, both in the field and in storage facilities. When a large tree falls in the forest, there's a splash and people hear the noise of the crash. But when a gene system disappears in the world, it's silent. And most of the world's not picking up on the loss of genetic erosion. The degree of genetic erosion, the loss of this variation, we don't really know. All we know is that time seems to be running out that as world population grows, as we impact more on these natural habitats where these crops are produced, you're going to find less and less of this variability. And one thing is for sure, if we have less variability, it's going to reduce our chances of survival in the future. If you don't have seeds, you have nothing for the future. We're losing these species quite rapidly and hopefully people will become aware of the need to preserve this germplasm and work towards this because it's not so much for you and me, but it's for our grandchildren, the next generations, that really need this material. The only way we can give the consumer what they want is to come up with genes, genes that will confer resistance to insect, resistance to pests, that will give us quality characteristics that the consumer really wants. Genetically, it's the only way we can do that because chemicals are just not a part of our future any longer. I think that people in agriculture know that we have to move away from chemicals to do that. We have the future in our hands here. We are storing it so that when there's a problem with our food supply in the future, we will have it. This seed is really more valuable than all the gold in Fort Knox. You may have money, but without the seed and the food, you cannot live. Early agriculturalists of the Americas found and preserved plants' genetic treasures. Benefiting from the Knowledge Base accumulated by Indian experimenters over thousands of years, modern-day scientists continue the tradition of green gold's advancement. The impacts these new world plants have had on civilizations and cultures around the globe have been tremendous, and they will continue to affect our lives in ways Christopher Columbus could never have imagined. The real treasure that Columbus took back to Europe and then gave to the rest of the world was the gift of the Indians to Columbus green gold.