ARCHIVED PROGRAMS
Apr. 24, 2001(120 minutes) A gene from a jellyfish is placed in a potato plant, making it light up whenever it needs watering. Rice plants are genetically transformed to produce vitamin A, preventing millions of African children from going blind. Plants are modified to produce plastic or pharmaceuticals. These are just a few of the touted benefits of genetically modified agriculture - the use of genetic engineering to alter crops for the benefit of mankind. But while proponents say this new technology has the potential to end world hunger and dramatically improve the quality of life of billions of people, others argue it constitutes the biggest threat to humanity since nuclear energy. Dubbing such genetically altered products "Frankenfoods," critics argue that the technology has been rushed to market. Scientists, they claim, are tampering with nature, risking potentially catastrophic and irreversible ecological disaster. The controversy has led Europe to ban the planting of genetically modified crops and to demand that all existing "GM" products be labeled. Will America follow suit? This FRONTLINE/NOVA special report examines the growing controversy over genetically modified foods.<br>
(Web site ») Apr. 18, 2000(120 minutes) Since the late 1980s, rising temperatures and dramatic weather-from heat waves and hurricanes to melting glaciers-have fueled a global political and scientific debate about whether life on earth is imperiled by human-caused global warming. NOVA and FRONTLINE join forces to examine what climatologists really know about the greenhouse effect. What is the connection between rising levels of carbon dioxide and rising temperatures? And what will the real impact of global warming be? The program examines the enormous difficulty in reducing the levels of greenhouse gases in a highly technological world economy and explores the political struggle between environmentalists and industrialists, between rich and poor countries, to grapple with what promises to be the most perplexing issue of the twenty-first century.
(Web site ») Jun. 2, 1998(60 minutes) FRONTLINE examines new evidence in the controversy over the danger of manmade chemicals to human health and the environment, thirty-five years after Rachel Carson first raised concerns of an impending ecological crisis. Currently, millions in research and public relations dollars are being spent in the battle, and President Clinton is calling this one of his top environmental priorities. The film takes viewers inside the world of scientists, politicians, activists, and business officials embroiled in this high-stakes debate that threatens the multibillion dollar chemical industry.
(Web site ») Nov. 11, 1997(60 minutes) America's marine theme parks are big business, attracting twenty million visitors each year. FRONTLINE examines the money, power, and politics of the captive marine mammal industry through the story of Keiko, the killer whale star of Hollywood's, FREE WILLY. The film traces Keiko's fourteen years in captivity, examines the capture, transport, and treatment of marine mammals, and explores human understanding of, and relationship with, these large creatures.
(Web site ») Apr. 22, 1997(60 minutes) Since 1978, no new nuclear power stations have been commissioned in the United States. Americans, once enthusiastic about nuclear power, now consider it one of the most serious risks to human life and health. But the American people's aversion to nuclear power has perplexed many nuclear scientists who believe it poses only trivial risks to the public. FRONTLINE correspondent and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Richard Rhodes looks at what has derailed nuclear power in the United States and at the differing national attitudes toward nuclear power.
(Web site ») Jun. 13, 1995
Currents of Fear
(60 minutes) Adrian Dedinger, who grew up across the street from an electric tower, became convinced of the dangers of electromagnetic fields after she and her family were diagnosed with multiple cancers and health disorders. She and other residents in Omaha, Nebraska, joined together when they discovered a high incidence of cancer in their neighborhood--all clustered close to power lines and an electric substation. Do the magnetic fields associated with electric power lines cause cancer? Are the cancers in Omaha due to the substation or simply to chance? FRONTLINE talks to people on both sides of the power line debate--concerned citizens and parents, journalists, physicists, biologists, and epidemiologists--examines the scientific data and explores the role politics plays in what information gains public attention and in funding studies on this issue.Oct. 26, 1993
Secrets of a Bomb Factory
(60 minutes) Wes McKinley didn't know what he was getting into when, in 1990, he was chosen as foreman of a special grand jury investigating potential crimes at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant in Colorado. But what McKinley and the other grand jurors learned in their two-and-one-half years of listening to testimony and examining other evidence disturbed them enough to risk prosecution themselves by going public. FRONTLINE, in co-production with Oregon Public Broadcasting, examines what the grand jury learned and what led to their rebellion. Mar. 30, 1993
In Our Children's Food
(60 minutes) Frontline traces the 30 year history of US pesticide use, regulation and scientific study and explores what is and is not known about the risks of agricultural chemicals in our food. The program, reported by Bill Moyers, examines how the government has failed to certify pesticide safety and why the only source of data on the safety of pesticides is the industry that profits from them.Oct. 20, 1992
The Politics of Power
(60 minutes) Frontline, in a co-production with the Center for Investigative Reporting, examines the story of our nation's failed energy policy. Journalist Nick Kotz investigates the role the Bush administration and key congressional committees played in creating a national energy policy that remains guided by special interests, calls for the controversial revival of nuclear power, and leaves America increasingly dependent on foreign oil supplies.May. 21, 1991
To the Last Fish
(60 minutes) Correspondent Al Austin looks at the mass environmental destruction of the world's fisheries caused by new technologies in the fishing industry. Interviews with fishermen, businessmen, scientists, and government leaders reveal how the vital marine resource is in a dangerous state of decline.Oct. 2, 1990
Global Dumping Ground: Frontline Special
(60 minutes) Correspondent Bill Moyers investigates America's shadowy new industry-the international export of toxic waste-revealing how shipping deadly wastes to third-world countries has become an enormous business in the US.Sep. 21, 1990
Decade of Destruction Part 4: Chico Mendes
(60 minutes) The series concludes with the story of Chico Mendes, a rubber tapper whose murder in 1988 brought worldwide attention to the problem of Amazonian deforestation. Mendes had become a symbol of the struggle between the rubber tappers and landowners. After surviving attempts on his life, Mendes was finally murdered by gunmen allegedly from a neighboring cattle ranch.Sep. 20, 1990
Decade of Destruction Part 3: Mts. of Gold
(60 minutes) Part III follows the gold rush of 200,000 illegal propectors who swarm over private gold reserves in the rain forest. As securtiy forces track the prospectors, the government fights to protect the world's largest untapped gold reserves.Sep. 19, 1990
Decade of Destruction Part 2: Killing for Land
(60 minutes) Part II follows the land wars which broke out as millions of poor farmers migrated to massive ranches in the Brazilian rain forest. As squatters, they begin to work the land until absentee landlords hire gunmen to kill these peasants. The peasants take up arms themselves, and the result is a lawless gun battle.Sep. 18, 1990
Decade of Destruction Part 1: Ashes of Forest
(120 minutes) Adrian Cowell's epic, ten-year-long series begins with a tale reminiscent of the American Wild West. A Brazilian settler brings his family to live deep in the Amazon, in Indian territory. Two of his sons are murdered and another is kidnapped by a renegade Indian tribe. For four years, a government expedition searches for the Indians and the child. Meanwhile, the colonists' expansion continues to encroach on the Indians' land. The series follows landless peasants as they are lured to the forest with promises of free land and big harvests. As the forest is slashed and burned, the crisis is taken to the US Congress, where under pressure, the World Bank finally changes its policies toward Brazilian development.Mar. 20, 1990
Anatomy of an Oil Spill
(60 minutes) In the black, early morning hours of Good Friday, 1989, the supertanker Exxon Valdez went aground on Bligh Reef, spilling millions of gallons of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound. Frontline correspondent Jon Tuttle investigates the long history of complacency, negligence, and broken promises by government agencies and oil companies that led to this disaster.Jun. 20, 1989
Who's Killing Calvert City?
(60 minutes) Calvert City, Kentucky, is at war with itself over the legacy of pollution and toxic waste from the chemical plants that are the heart of its economy. Frontline examines the struggle between citizens and industry giants, like GAF and BF Goodrich, to find the truth about what's happening to Calvert City.May. 9, 1989
Yellowstone Under Fire
(60 minutes) President Reagan's Interior secretaries, James Watt and Donald Hodel, may have altered the landscape of the Yellowstone Park area more dramatically than the fires that ravaged it in the summer of 1988. This program examines the impact of eight years of accelerated development of minerals, timber, and tourism on America's most famous wilderness.Apr. 11, 1989
Murder in the Amazon
(60 minutes) Chico Mendes was an environmentalist and a leader of seringueiros, Brazilian rubber tappers, who struggle to defend their forests from destruction by cattle ranchers and developers. Mendes's murder in December 1988 focused international attention on the ecological pillage of millions of acres of Amazonian rain forest. Apr. 5, 1988
Poison and the Pentagon
(60 minutes) The military is America's largest producer of toxic waste. Frontline reporter Joe Rosenbloom investigates the Pentagon's poor record of cleaning up its pollution that contaminates the ground water in communities across the country.Feb. 3, 1987
The Earthquake is Coming
(60 minutes) Frontline examines the startling implications of what will happen when the big earthquake hits California, detailing the awesome effects as systems rupture and the entire nation's economy, industries, and national security are jeopardized.May. 23, 1983
In Our Water
(60 minutes) Frank Kaler's story begins simply enough when he requests a water test. Why? Because his children develop skin lesions after bathing in it. Frontline chronicles Kaler's six-year battle with local and federal officials over the chemical pollution of his drinking water.
