Monsanto: More Saint Than Sinner?

kenny olavkenny olav Posts: 3,322
edited May 2013 in A Moving Train
What do we think? It's always good to think about the other side of the argument.

http://www.realclearscience.com/article ... 06533.html

May 15, 2013
Monsanto: More Saint than Sinner
By Ross Pomeroy

Monsanto is the Devil Incarnate, a ruthless corporation hell bent upon forcing their unnatural food down our open gullets. The soy and corn they sow are more likely to transmogrify us into imps than sustain us.

At least that's what a lot of people seem to believe these days.

Poring over Monsanto's well documented past, the company's haters might have a point. The company was instrumental in manufacturing the much maligned insecticide DDT as well as the herbicide Agent Orange. The latter may have caused as many as 400,000 deaths in Vietnam from its use by the U.S. military as a chemical warfare agent. Moreover, the company has been criminally complacent in many cases of environmental pollution, including a sinister occurrence in Alabama in which the company "drenched" a town in toxic industrial coolants for 40 years.

Yes, Monsanto has done some bad things, and unfortunately for them, their relentless dedication to being a successful company has stifled public forgiveness.

Monsanto showers politicians with contributions and employs a cadre of well-connected lobbyists. These actions recently secured passage of what's been misleadingly dubbed the "Monsanto Protection Act," which simply prevents unpredictable court decisions from restricting the sale and distribution of genetically modified seeds. Right or wrong, this provided its critics with more ammunition.

Moreover, Monsanto mercilessly defends its intellectual property. Since the mid-1990s the corporation has filed suit against 145 individual farmers for patent infringement, never losing a single case.

This trend continued on Monday, when the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against an Indiana farmer who attempted to circumvent Monsanto's rules. The small-time farmer now must pay the multibillion-dollar company a sum of $80,000. This surely won't endear any new fans to the controversial company, instead providing more material to the Monsanto hatemongers, who have littered the Internet with tales of treachery and diatribes against supposedly insidious genetically modified organisms.

But their story is far from the whole story.

Back in 1970, Monsanto chemist John Franz invented a herbicide called glyphosate. In the half-century that has since passed, the substance has been heralded as a "once-in-a-century herbicide," leading to substantially higher crop yields without damaging the environment. Scrutiny over the years has revealed the herbicide to be less acutely toxic than Tylenol and to degrade quickly in the soil. In order for farmers to make full use of the herbicide, Monsanto engineered strains of various crops to be immune to glyphosate. Now, American farmers average 160 bushels of corn per acre each year, up from 109.5 in 1979.

Monsanto has also been key to the development of golden rice, a genetically modified strain which provides a significant amount of Vitamin A per serving. Vitamin A deficiency plagues many parts of the developing world, resulting in as many as one million deaths and 500,000 cases of irreversible blindness annually (PDF). If widely planted, golden rice could very well abate this tragedy.

Monsanto's noble efforts have garnered the adoration of numerous, notable do-gooders, including philanthropist Bill Gates and agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug, the Nobel Peace Prize winner whose dwarf wheat revolutionized agriculture, saving an estimated one billion lives from starvation. Before he died in 2009, Borlaug extolled Monsanto's use of genetic modification, believing science to be the best hope for feeding a growing world population.

"We've been genetically modifying plants and animals for a long time. Long before we called it science, people were selecting the best breeds," he said in an interview with Houston Chronicle.

Let's be honest, Monsanto is simply the "evil corporation du jour." Microsoft, Nike, Wal-Mart, and McDonalds have all taken turns.

Monsanto has certainly done some sinful things, but the good they've wrought far outweighs the bad. Otherwise, they probably wouldn't be in business.


Ross Pomeroy is the assistant editor of RealClearScience. Follow him on Twitter @SteRoPo.
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • riotgrlriotgrl LOUISVILLE Posts: 1,892
    Ugh, no way will I ever think Monsanto is doing any good. Corn is the be all, end all that will keep us all well fed? How is that dependence on corn and soy working out for our rise in diabetes, obesity and a whole host of other ailments caused by being obese and diabetic? And lets face it, Americans in particular eat little more than processed food which is full of corn and soy. And we have not spent thousands of years genetically modifying our seeds through scientific manipulation the way Monsanto has done. Hybridizing seeds is vastly different. I understand that they are the corporation to hate today but I think we are glossing over a lot of problems that are caused by this company.
    Are we getting something out of this all-encompassing trip?

    Seems my preconceptions are what should have been burned...

    I AM MINE
  • PapPap Aspra Spitia, Greece Posts: 28,122
    Interesting... I have read a lot of articles about Monsanto the last couple of months, but all of them are against them. So, it's indeed good to think about the other side of the argument. In this way, one can cross-check his sources and draw more detailed conclusions.
    Athens 2006 / Milton Keynes 2014 / London 1&2 2022 / Seattle 1 2024 / Dublin 2024 / Manchester 2024 / London 2024
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,592
    Monsanto's record speak for itself. This reminds me of the recent McDonald's efforts to make themselves look "green". I probably look green right now too trying to envision anyone believing Monsanto is "more saint than sinner". :sick:
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • redrockredrock Posts: 18,341
    More sinner than saint.

    However their PR want to package it.
  • kenny olavkenny olav Posts: 3,322
    I find it funny that it mentions Wal-Mart as having been an "evil corporation du jour"... the same corporation that just a few days ago rejected a safety upgrade agreement for Bangladesh clothing factories... http://rt.com/usa/gap-walmart-banglades ... ement-340/

    But it's not just Wal-Mart, Monsanto, McDonald's, etc... it's the business culture that allows companies to get away with massive injustices.

    Maybe there is an upside to Monsanto... it seems there is... but I haven't found any argument saying Monsanto is all good.
  • kenny olavkenny olav Posts: 3,322
    I also find this debate interesting...

    The GMO debate
    Stewart Brand vs Winona LaDuke
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00Dp2IVzZb8
  • aerialaerial Posts: 2,319
    Tell the EPA You Want Lower, Not Higher, Limits on Monsanto's Roundup!

    When does one plus one not equal two? When mounting evidence says glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup pesticide, does more damage to our health and environment than we thought. And the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) responds by approving higher, not lower, allowable limits of the pesticide residue.

    Please sign the letter below. Tell the EPA you want lower, not higher, limits on Monsanto’s glyphosate and Roundup!

    http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50865/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=10886
    “We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” Abraham Lincoln
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