tonight on "nightline," young, wild and escaping reality. spring break is just the beginning. and tonight we go inside a dangerous world where teenage girls go to party extreme. going under cover, we are inside the battle over hidden cameras on american farms. why some want to expose secret corners in the nation's food supply are being called terrorists in the halls of power. and heromakers. on i aboard, rock or bike this mini camera will make you look like a superstar. tonight we meet the man behind a video revolution. keep it right here, america. "nightline" is back in just 50 seco

from new york city, this is

"nightline" with bill weir. >> thanks for staying with us tonight. you know, a few terms lay bare the generation gap in our society like the two words spring break. for millions those words inspire giddy visions of tan cream and beer bongs and coming of age liberty all set to a technobeat. and for their parents, well, those wistful memories can quickly turn to horror just by imagining their precious baby doing shots at a foam party in mexico. with spring break 2013 upon us, abc's juju chang goes in search of a reality check. >> it's the annual pilgrimage, millions of spring breakers migrating to beaches all over the world. videos all over youtube show the party is fueled by booze, bikinis and sex. the new movie "spring breakers is" glorifies the escape. in theaters nationwide next week, the film takes us on a wild ride of debauchery.

a group of bored college students played by former child star sa len into gomez and vanessa hutch chins seem suddenly very grown up willing to do whatever it takes to be part of the biggest summer week ever. and nothing is rated pg. but critics argue although the film is raunchy and going for shock value, the show and tell isn't too far from reality. spring break is often the spring board into habitual partying for teens and it can turn deadly. just last week 20-year-old kyle lamb was found unconscious in panama city beach after a day of drinking. his friends weren't able to revive him. and then there's holly. >> about 90. >> she lived in a world where binge drinking was normal. on this night, she's barreling down the highway after a few too many drinks. >> i'm not proud of the drinking and the driving. i think it's so stupid. i think it's so stupid.

>> and yet, that's what alcohol does to you. >> yeah. it's poison. >> reporter: holly's exploits are featured in the documentary faded which offers a sobering message for unsuspecting parents. according to the centers for disease control, 90% of june aged drinkers are binge drinkers with young adults chugging down more than nine drinks at a time. >> i think a lot of parents don't want to believe anything negative about their kids. >> rebecca thomas had no clue the extent to which her daughter erin was secretly binge drinking. one night she wound up at a party with older boys she didn't know that well. >> i thought i'll take a couple drinks and relax. i'll get to know these people but then that turned into i'll take another shot and another shot of this. >> reporter: so some drinks do you think you consumed that evening? >> about four beers and i want to say 10 to 13 slots. >> 10 to 13 shots on top of that? >> yes.

>> how did you stay conscious. >> i didn't. >> as you're sitting here listening to this, 13 drinks? >> yeah, this is the first time i'm hearing the wholer. >> 14 drinks can kill a person. >> yeah. >> erin then got into a car with her boyfriend who was pulled over for dui. and erin was taken into custody for underage drinking. her mother got a heart-stopping call. >> the officer said, are you rebecca thomas and is your daughter erin thomas and i just thought, is she dead? i was just panicked. >> reporter: and shocked. often bench drinkers aren't the campus misfits. they're just as likely good girls under enormous pressure just trying to fit in. erin says she first began lying to her mother in eighth grade. >> it was about me wanting to make a decision and knowing that i wasn't going to be able to do anything unless i did it behind her back. >> reporter: you wanted control? >> yes. >> often under age bingers

secretly pregame pounding stomach turning quantities of alcohol before the school dance or the big game where alcohol is strictly banned. >> getting five beers over a couple hours could be pretty common. >> little kids don't even like the taste of alcohol. >> they hate it. >> they're just chugging it. >> disgusting. >> and you're encouraging each other sitting there going, just do it, just fast. here. and telling each other tips how to drink it faster so you don't taste it. >> for girls, alcohol has the added danger of giving them courage to act out sexually and then providing an excuse for the risky behavior the morning after. >> 80% of teenage pregnancies happen when the girl is drunk. does that surprise you? >> no, that doesn't surprise me. >> why? >> when the girls are drunk and the guy starts to push it to that limit, the alcohol gives you the liquid courage to start but not to stop. >> looking back, holly says perhaps the best prevention is helping a young girl beat back her escalating insecurities.

what do you say to the 14-year-old you? >> i'd tell her that she's beautiful and she's capable of doing whatever she wants to do. and i don't think i knew that. >> you don't need that alcohol. >> yeah, i can be cool without it. >> one, two. >> something these spring breakers may need to hear during these few weeks in march when alcohol reigns supreme. for "nightline," i'm juju chang in portland, oregon. and coming up, the battle over hidden cameras. american farms and the truth about our food supply. so if you have a flat tire, dead battery, need a tow or lock your keys in the car, geico's emergency roadside assistance is there 24/7. oh dear, i got a flat tire. hmmm. uh... yeah, can you find a take where it's a bit more dramatic on that last line, yeah? yeah i got it right here. someone help me!!! i have a flat tire!!!

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. question, would you like to see where your dinner came from? okay, maybe you had some adventurous foreign fare tonight or it came out of a vending machine and you would rather not know. but do you think we should have the right to see where our food comes from? that question is at the heart of a battle between animal right activists and farmers a fight spurred by those who slip into the food chain undercover with remain cameras rolling. here's abc's brian ross for our series night line investigates. >> it's a glamorous celebrity-packed awards event held every year in beverly hills. >> thank you forgivening me this award. >> these are the genesis awards but unlike the oscars or emmys there's nothing very entertaining about some of the winners. in fact, they can be downtown

right gruesome to watch. the awards are given by the humane society of the united states and often honor graphic undercover videos of animal cruelty and mistreatment at what are called factory farms. >> the video tells the truth. it shows what's going on. >> wayne pacelle the head of the society says such undercover videos have been the key to tough new anti-cruelty laws like this video which revealed the use of deceased cows for beef sold to consumers. >> this led to the largest meat recall in american history. >> and this one which exposed cruelty and unsanitary conditions at major pork producers. >> the only reason this has been of interest is because the footage is so shocking. the cruelty is so revolting, the sanitary conditions are so pauling. that's what has trigger this had response. >> reporter: but now all of that could be coming to an end. under pressure from the agriculture industry, at least five states now have laws making

it a crime to go under cover on farm properties to record videos. and many other states are considering it. the law passed in utah last year has legislators called and amal rights groups terrorists and the enemy. >> vegetarian people trying to kill the animal industry. >> this is about a group of people that want to put us out of business. make no mistake about it. >> in iowa, the law passed just a few months after an abc news report which won a genesis award featuring undercover footage at a huge iowa egg factory taped by the group mercy for animals. yet the investigator who took this footage could be committing a crime if he did the same thing now under the bill signed into law by the i governor. >> if somebody comes on somebody else's property through fraud or deception or lying, that is a serious violation of people's rights. >> reporter: agriculture

lobbying groups have used influence and money to try to expand the ban on exposes to more than a dozen other states as part of the effort, they cite what happened to dairy farmers luis and sharon of idaho. >> i am angry the way we've been treated. >> reporter: oo investigator with mercy for animals got a job at the huge dairy operation last year and made these dispushing videos of fellow workers handling the cattle. including the use of electric products. the five employees caught on tape were fired. one pleaded guilty to criminal charges and two others have charges pending. even the betancourts agree it was a damning video. >> that's animal cruelty. >> but they claim they had no idea of the mistreatment until authorities told them about the video. and questioned why the animal rights undercover investigator never told them directly so they could stop the abuse sooner. >> he was an employee of ours. is he showed the report to the

manager or us. >> if he had -- >> we would have tooken care of it. >> shocking video of alleged animal abuse at dairy farm in iowa. >> instead it became a big story across the country. >> stomping, beating cows. >> they say they began to get phone and e-mail death threats. if it were in my power, i would blow you off the face of the earth. i pray are you punched, kicked and prodded to a slow torturous death. >> killing me, killing my kids. killing my grandkids. my whole family and my employees are getting threatened. >> agricultural lobbyists claim that the agenda of the animal rights group is not really the humane treatment of animals but instead getting publicity, promoting a vegan lifestyle and hurting farmers. >> you can look on some of those web sites and see that some of them do claim to want to end the use of animals for food. >> kelly ludlum, the director of congressional relations for the

american farm bureau even suggested some of the videos might be staged. >> i think there's a concern with the way that groups with their own agendas may come in and video things that are happening on farms or even stage things to happen on farms. i mean you have to -- >> you think they've staged things? >> i can't -- i can't prove that. >> you just said it. >> i don't know if that's the case. certainly these groups have an agenda. >> but authorities in idaho who used the video to bring criminal charges say there is no indication anything was staged but why didn't mercy for animals simply tell the owner what they found and stop the abuse sooner? >> this is not our duty to tell the owners. it's their duty to know what's going on in their facility. and it was so egregious it rises to a level of criminal animal abuse. >> in fact, the betancourts themselves concede they are now using sat video they so object to train employees in their zero tolerance policy for cruelty.

>> some good that has come from this? >> yeah. >> but not enough in the view of farm lobbyists to stop the efforts that have already made such undercover taping on farms illegal in five states. >> we're not currently doing our investigations in those five states. >> because of those laws? >> that's right. >> so they have stopped you? >> they have, yeah. >> it is truly an honor to be here. >> and the same is true for sponsors of the genesis awards. the humane society of the united states. so they have won this round in those five states? >> if you think that chilling speech and closing the curtain on our food production system is winning, yes, they've won. >> so far this year, similar legislation has been introduced in at least six states and animal rights groups expect other states to follow. they fear that 2013 could be the year that they will lose one of their most powerful weapons, the hidden camera videos that agricultural interests seem so

desperate to stop. bill? >> ron ross, thanks very much. staying with the camera theme but changing gears considerably, how in the world did they manage to get that shot? we're going to meet the adventurous dudes whose mini camera is giving us a new angle adventurous dudes whose mini camera is giving us a new angle on some amazing stubts. captions paid for by abc, inc. [ male announcer ] this is karen and jeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they're gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, they'll find some retirement people who are paid on salary, not commission. they'll get straightforward guidance and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. ♪

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these days, there are cameras everywhere. in your phone, on your desk, there are cameras with built-in cameras which makes it all the more amazing that one surfer dude built a billion dollar empire in this oversaturated market by building a camera devoted to fellow thrill junk junkies. gropro and in this encore segment, matt gut mann got to explore the gadget that turns

ordinary folks into youtube heros. >> with the launch of this rikt kety skiff is a secret hi-tech operation off the west coast of nicaragua. the guy is pad ling on that your surf boards are the brain trust behind a camera company called gropro, can destinly testing their newest generation of cam rads in a surfer's paradise. even if you've never heard of gropro you've definitely seen the impossible angles. the pov of the death defying. >> whoo. >> the visceral intensity of impact. >> holy cow. >> reporter: and the serenity of a robot lofted into space. >> continues to blow our minds that gropro is what it is today. >> for company founder nick plut

journey began on a surf board in 2002. >> the original goal was to produce a camera that the average surfer could use to capture themselves and tear friends while they're surfing. >> now eight years after rolling out their first prototype, woodman and his old surfing buddies who happen to be the company's top officers like brad schmidt took "nightline" on a four-day r & d road trip in nicaragua. >> does anybody say you have the best gig in the world? >> all the time. >> but i think he has the best gig in the world. >> it is a good gig. i mean, look at him. smiling >> he looks really stressed out to me. i don't know. look at this guy. >> they have a lot to smile about. gropro is now the world's best selling small camera, more than 3 million sold since 2009. you can ses you could arguably credit to the hoards of bruised and unpaid stuntman trying to live up to the product's name, hero. you see the vast majority of gropro videos out there are user

generated. >> youtube has helped make gropro what it is today. facebook also. our customers have been going out and capturing interesting footage and sharing it online is driving gropro's growth. it's a virally grown brand in the hands of our customers. >> since 2009, the company has grown from seven employees to over 400. and signed some of the corrupt's most famous athletes including shawn white and kelly slater. but the camera which costs about $400 has become much more than just a gizmo for self-admiring surfers. >> you think about how much television we watch or how many movies or magazines you read about you know, your favorite sports or celebrities or what not and then think about how much footage you've seen of yourself doing what you love to do the most. gropro makes it people to have professional quality footage of their most memorable moments. >> he's often the first to get his hands on the biggest

innovations, products they lovingly design but don't sell like this matrix like array and this waist belt. >> as if there was a cameraman following you the entire time. >> isn't that cool? >> it's really cool. >> that's nick walking towards the surf while we load the boat, fuel up, push out and punch onto the surf to meet him and the guys as they swim out from shore. diving into the water, the real experiment begins. testing, and tweaking, their latest invention like mad scientist surfers. and in the water, they're transformed from a gaggle of hi-tech execs to a bunch of dudes reveling in their own hero moments. i'm matt gutman for "nightline" going pro in nicaragua. >> thank you for watching abc news. we hope you have a weekend at

news. we hope you have a weekend at least half as fun as that. captions by vitac