Monsanto

One of the world's most prominent and controversial companies, Monsanto Company is a multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Its signature product is the world's best-selling herbicide, glyphosate, marketed under the trademark Roundup. However, the company is also extremely controversial, most notoriously for having produced the chemical defoliation material, (herbicide) “Agent Orange” during the Vietnam War, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)—one of the world's most dangerous fertilizers, and more recently for its aggressive efforts to promote and protect Monsanto's rights to genetically engineered seed, and push genetically modified (GM) food. Monsanto began as a chemical company in 1901, but in the 1990s, through a series of mergers, splits, and acquisitions, reinvented itself as an agricultural company. According to the company Website, Monsanto invests almost $1.5 million in research and marketing that spans genomics, breeding, crop analytics, chemistry, and biotechnology.

The company identifies its key areas of interest as genomics, the discovery and identification of the functions of genes, biotech transformation—input (weed, disease, insect control) and output (quality, nutrition, yield), a key focus on seeds, with an attempt to establish dominant positions in canola, corn, and soybeans, and finally, new Roundup formulation research.

Monsanto is active in the use of nanotechnology in genetic engineering that has been termed synbio (also known as synthetic genomics, constructive biology, or systems biology) that is inspired by the convergence of nanoscale biology, computing, and engineering. Essentially, this is the design and construction of new biological parts, devices, and systems that do not exist in the natural world and the redesign of existing biological systems to perform specific tasks. Such engineering would allow gene synthesis to create new microbes and biological samples, sequenced and stored in digital form, to be transferred instantly across laboratories. Monsanto scientists became the first to genetically modify a plant cell in 1982, and in 1987, the company conducted the first field tests of genetically engineered crops.

Littigation and Lobbying

The company is also noted for its aggressive litigation, intense lobbying practices, and the intense anger it provokes among environmental activists and the antiglobalization movement. Genetic manipulation has awakened fears in the public, especially in Europe. Monsanto has been blamed for the failure of genetically modified crops, as for example in 2009, when South African farmers were hit by millions of dollars in lost income when 82,000 hectares of genetically manipulated corn failed to produce seeds despite an outwardly green and lush appearance. Monsanto has claimed that “underfertilization processes in the laboratory” were responsible for this, and has offered to compensate the farmers. Similar problems of crop failure have affected Monsanto seeds in India. Moreover, genetically modified products have led to paradoxical results, as for example, the inadvertent creation of evil pigweed, a “super weed” that is resistant to RoundUp. Pigweed can produce 10,000 seeds at a time, is drought resistant, and has very diverse genetics. It can grow to 3 meters high and easily smother young cotton plants.

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Monsanto was blamed when its genetically modified corn failed to produce seeds despite a lush appearance.

Another area in which the company has been aggressive is in the enforcement of its intellectual property rights. From 1997 to July 2009, the company filed 138 lawsuits in the United States, from a customer base of 250,000 customers and others worldwide. In one of the most prominent cases of this nature, Monsanto sued Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser in 1997 after Monsanto agents found the company's patented gene in canola plants on his farm near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. After a lengthy legal battle, the case ended in a draw, with the court ruling that Schmeiser was not obliged to pay Monsanto damages or the company's legal costs, and agreeing with Schmeiser that the plant was a higher life form and cannot be patented, but upholding Monsanto's right to the patented gene.

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