Monsanto Scientist Fred Perlak
My mentor, Fred Perlak, was a career scientist at Monsanto, an agriculture company that created GMOs and pesticides we recorded one of our long conversations.
Fred Perlak Ph.D. is a retired scientist from Monsanto. During this interview he discusses the likelihood that glyphosate (RoundUp) causes cancer, how disruptive Monsanto was to the pesticide industry, and gives a metaphor to understand how you can engineer a plant to resist an herbicide that kills almost all other plants.
Perlak ran the Hawaii site for Monsanto, a site critical to Monsanto’s seed operations. Prior to that he was a key member of the scientific team that created Bt cotton, a GMO that protected the plant from being eaten by specific insects.
Fred is on Twitter: @FredPerlak
Follow the Vance Crowe Podcast
Vance Crowe Podcast Facebook Page
Twitter: @VanceCrowe
About The Vance Crowe Podcast:
The Vance Crowe Podcast interviews experts in unexpected fields and gets them to reveal the discoveries that come from having a knowledge of a highly specific discipline. Vance Crowe is the CEO of Articulate Ventures (www.VanceCrowe.com) a communications strategy company- and he is regularly invited to deliver speeches around the U.S. and Canada teaching audiences how to communicate so that others want to listen, understand and value what you have to say.
Honey bee expert talks colony collapse & Africanized bees
With such a wise, weather beaten face, it is surprising that international honey bee expert Jerry Hayes is so self effacing. If he wanted to, he could look stern, but he is so quick with a smile that you can’t help but feel at ease. He is a hero in the eyes of many and yet he simply won’t accept accolades or praise. It makes him fun to interview… but a little wiley.
We spoke about honey bee behavior, colony collapse disorder, and Jerry even told about the first time he saw Africanized “Killer” bees (at the autopsy of a 900 lbs horse!)
The conversation was wide ranging and fun. Jerry and I are long time friends that worked together for 4 years while at Monsanto in Saint Louis, Missouri.
A few days before I did the interview, I went to Facebook and asked if anyone had questions. In less than an hour I had over 30 different questions. I will have to remember for later that the group often thinks of a lot better interview questions than I do.
There are two fun clips I took from the full interview:
This next clip, you will notice that I had to back away from the new microphones because I was so shocked by what I heard that I didn’t want to blow out the sound when I reacted to what he was telling me. The entire interview is great- but this clip about killer bees is the best thing I have recorded to date.
If you like what you see and hear, subscribe on YouTube or on your podcast player. Also if you want to get some updates from the company sign up below!