Those of us in the food 'blogosphere' have spent countless hours hating Monsanto and everything they stand for. They are the largest crop seed company in the world. They make bio-engineered seeds with their patented pesticides. They were one of the major players in the production of the defoliant Agent Orange, (along with Dow Chemical) We've read the stories of farmer's, who themselves never bought Monsanto seed, being sued by the company because their non-Monsanto seed had cross-pollinated with Monsanto seed, giving their crops the 'advantages' those seeds claimed and were patented. Farmer's who have run into this dilemma have been given a choice, switch to Monsanto seed or allow your fields to go fallow and replant the following season. Most farmer's have capitulated and signed contracts to buy Monsanto seed long term. Those who stood up and fought have been crushed under the weight of a massive multinational corporation and a legal system that protects the interests of large businesses over small ones.
I bring this up for two reasons: 1.)
This article about another class-action lawsuit won by Monsanto. And 2.) The term that is always brought up when discussing Monsanto, 'GM crops'.
Genetically modified crops have gotten a bad rap lately and I wish they would find another technical term that could be applied to what Monsanto creates. We have been genetically altering crops for thousands of years. What Monsanto does is make seeds by creating an artificial DNA sequence and embedding it into the plant's genome. This embeds the company's patented pesticides right into the genome. This HAS proved effective at increasing crop yields and made them drought resistant, but it has also created superbugs, who are resistant to the pesticides, and legal headaches for farmers and anyone associated with them.
I could probably write a 20+ page paper on this topic, but I'll save it for a future class. Have a great weekend!
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