Monsanto Agrochemical Company
Monsanto Agrochemical Company has been in existence since 1901 when it was started by John Francis Queeny. During its inception, Monsanto’s objective was to promote green evolution that would ensure that the world produced food enough to feed the world’s increasing population. Green evolution became gene evolution in 1990s. Today, its chief mandate has been to help farmers around the world to produce crops while most efficiently using soil, water, and energy. The core commitment that it has made to farmers and its employees is the commitment to safety as supported by the human rights (Monsanto 2018). Nevertheless, in the recent past there have been gross complaints about the safety of the fertilizers used by farmers. The most widespread case known as the Dewayne Jonson Case confirmed the truth in hundreds of cases filed against Monsanto claiming that Roundup was the cause of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. This is a deadly kind of blood cancer. The ruling in favor of Mr. Dewayne Johnson alerted the world to the possibility that the hundreds of complaints may be justified. This paper is a discussion of these allegations and an outline of the benefits that farmers derive from Monsanto which has been existence for over a century.
Benefits that farmers enjoy through Monsanto
The first benefit of using the Monsanto products is being engaged in programs such as those facilitated by the Monsanto Fund that strengthen rural communities through grants that support innovation in schools and scholarships for future agriculture students. 1,124 students have received the scholarship since 2011. Besides, the Monsanto Fund gives $6 million annually in the form of charitable gifts.
Besides the Monsanto Fund, farmers have also benefited from Monsanto through genetic engineering, traditional plant breeding, crop protection, monitoring plant health, and research and development.
Genetic reengineering
Gene evolution started in 1990s focusing on genetic engineering. Genetic engineering at Monsanto relates to two genetic technologies namely microbials and BioDirect. The microbials genetic engineering involves using microbes to develop agricultural products instead of using purely chemical agricultural products. It boosts productivity of crops. On the other hand, the BioDirect technology refers to developing products through a natural process known as RNA interference (RNAi). It makes use of the natural method used by cells to replicate genes.
Plant breeding
Plant breeding is a technique used to create plants exhibiting unique characteristics such as drought tolerance.
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are created by transferring copied beneficial genes directly into plants. GMO constitutes a large portion of Monsanto’s products. Typically it takes 13 years and cash worth $130 million to introduce a GMO seed into the market. The process of developing a GMO seed is made up of four steps. The first step is the identification of the desired trait in nature. Secondly, the gene is copied by scientists and transferred it into a plant. The third step involves testing whether the plant is safe for humans, animals, and the environment. The last step entails years of testing and receiving reviews by world regulators. If approved, the GMO seed is made available to farmers. An example of 10 commercially available GMO seeds include sugar beets, corn, potato, canola, apple, alfalfa, soybeans, papaya, cotton, and zucchini.
The benefits associated with GMO seeds include promoting the efficient use of resources since planting a little portion of land could result to doubling or tripling of a farmers’ yield. GMO seeds also fight pests and diseases, and conserve natural habitats.
Traditional plant breeding
Another advantage that Monsanto provides to the farmers is traditional plant breeding. Plant breeding is essential because it results in genetically diverse crops and involves merging plant breeds to improve crop yield and water efficiency. Examples of traditionally bred plant species are baby carrots, seedless watermelon, tangelos, grape tomatoes, and broccolini.
Other benefits
The other benefits enjoyed by farmers include monitoring of the health of plants, crop protection against excess sunlight, weeds, insects, and disease, and research and development. The company also uses of data analytics for greenhouse automation, metabolomics, and automated screening.
The harm caused to farmers by the Monsanto Company
Genetic modification of seeds by the Monsanto Company has resulted in several disadvantages. Documentaries indicate that farmers have raised complaints regarding patent issues and health-related issues linked to Monsanto. An example of such complaint was the Dewayne Johnson case. Johnson claimed to have developed blood cancer from his continuous use of Monsanto products. The court ruled in favor of Johnson stating that the company had an obligation to warn him of the health effects of the products. Most people suffer such critical health effects albeit unknowingly until it is too late. Every human being has a right to healthy food consumption (Bazar, Gardam, and Price, 6).
The first challenge that farmers have with the Monsanto’s GMO seeds is that they must use fertilizers when farming. The GMOs have been engineered to use pesticides for a healthy crop yield. Consequently, the purchase of fertilizers has significantly increased the cost of farming; thereby decreasing profits earned from farming. The fertilizers also pollute water used by the farmers which poses health risks to the farmers.
The controversial product by Monsanto is known as Round up which was introduced in 1970s. It is popular for its ability to kill most weeds, became popular in the industry (Hakim 2017). Nevertheless, farmers have complained about its cancerous content known as glyphosate (Mills, Linda, and Laughlin, 1385). The pesticide has also been engineered to encourage growth of super weeds which are difficult to manage without stronger pesticides. Using strong herbicides is harmful to the health of the soil in the long run making farmers dependent on pesticides in their farming. Another effect of GMO seeds is that it has led to unexplained low yields of soybeans because it affects the natural nitrogen composition of this legume.
GMOs have also jeopardized the genetic heritage of seeds. Farmers that have been planting crops for years are currently dealing with contamination caused by the GMO seeds as they spread through wind to farms that do not use GMO seeds. In Mexico, there was a report that Transgenic DNA introgressed into traditional maize landraces in the country (Ricroch 810). This discovery shocked this nation that prides itself for growing GMO-free seeds. According to Dr. George Soberon, Director of National Commission of Bio Safety in Mexico, says that the discovery of Transgenic DNA from Monsanto’s unlabeled seed products was treated as a big problem for the Mexican farming community since they wanted to avoid contaminating other seeds at all costs. Thus, the GMO contamination became a national problem. The result of such contamination is crowding out diversity which is a major threat to food security (Shiva 2016).
Patenting and Labeling
A controversial debate is the patenting of seeds. Patenting genes even life. From 1990s, Monsanto has been patenting not only GMOs but also non-GMO seeds. Besides, the company is also in the business of buying out other seed companies. The reason for patenting is to ensure that farmers could not save seeds and would lose ownership of their seeds. In a year, Monsanto spends 8 billion dollars used to buy seed companies. With time the ownership of seeds shifted from the farmers to corporation who currently own 93% of GM Soy market and 80% of GM corn. The resultant effect of such patenting by Monsanto is that farmers must buy seeds from corporations every year. Monsanto also forces farmers to comply with rules and regulations in their contracts that essentially puts the farmers at a juridical disadvantage. One of the documentaries contains three farmers named Daved Runyon, Troy Roush, and Moe Parr who were wrongly accused of infringing Monsanto’s patent rights. They made the documentary to make the world aware of Monsanto’s reckless business policies. One of them, a 5th generation farmer narrates how he was falsely accused by Monsanto’s patent infringement. He was sued in court and after spending $400,000 defending himself and the family, an out of court settlement was agreed upon. No one accepted liability for the damages caused during the case.
Another challenge faced by farmers and people who use GMO products is labeling. Failure to label goods as either GMO or non-GMO has led to health concerns since the contents of GMO are harmful for the consumption of some individuals; especially suckling babies. The labels lacking on GMO related products means that companies take no liability for any health effects of such products. Thus, people’s health is endangered by GMO products and yet Monsanto does not want to be accountable for such harms.
Defense of the Monsanto Company against accusations
In its defense, Monsanto Company claims that it has fulfilled the required regulations as required by the government. In fact, a statement by the National Academy of Sciences qualifies their products stating that they found “no substantiated evidence of a difference in risks to human health between currently commercialized genetically engineered crops.”
The irony, though, is that Monsanto has strategically positioned persons in Congress, and US government regulators such as EPA, FDA, FBI, and CIA. Consequently, whenever there is a case against them, these corrupt executives write to the supreme court urging the judges to rule in favor of Monsanto. Hence, the farmers lose the cases and are forced to pay for damages. Sadly, an estimated total amount of settlements paid to Monsanto by farmers is $85.7 to $160.6 million.
Works Cited
Bazar, Joan, Marybeth Gardam, and Nancy Price. "WILPF and the Human Right to Health and Safe Food." Peace and Freedom 75.1 (2015): 6.
Hakim, Danny. "Monsanto weed killer Roundup faces new doubts on safety in unsealed documents." New York Time(2017).
Mills, Paul J., Linda K. McEvoy, and Gail A. Laughlin. "Glyphosate Levels in Older Adults—Reply." JAMA 319.13 (2018): 1385-1385.
Ricroch, Agnès E., Michèle Guillaume-Hofnung, and Marcel Kuntz. "The ethical concerns about transgenic crops." (2018): 803-811.
Shiva, Vandana, ed. Seed sovereignty, food security: Women in the vanguard of the fight against GMOs and corporate agriculture. North Atlantic Books, 2016.
Documentaries
Monsanto: The Company that Owns the World’s Food Supply https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAZmHIiN8VI
Monsanto the Future of Food 2004 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbMUUPJFy40
Monsanto vs Farmers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNvW-uGBTSk
