Monsanto Research Paper

ethical responsibilities - Monsanto has established a code of ethics for its employees and all are subject to behave within the code to ensure an ethical working environment. Additionally (2014), "Monsanto maintains an open-door policy with all employees and business partners who have questions about how to manage difficult work situations or have concerns about business actions. Through our board-chartered global Business Conduct Office (BCO), we implement compliance and ethics initiatives through working groups and dedicated facilitators in each of our global business regions. As allowed by local law, employees may submit concerns or questions to the BCO via a private post office box, an internal toll-free telephone number or an email address dedicated to business conduct

Monsanto is a company that effects almost every human in the United States and millions abroad. But what is Monsanto? Monsanto is one of the largest producers of genetically modified crops in the world. Genetically modified crops play a pivotal role in our food supply today. Over 60% of food on the shelves of our supermarkets contain some form of genetically altered soybean, corn or canola. However, Monsanto may not be nice as they seem. Over the past few years Monsanto has been investigated under allegations of collusion and keeping others out of the market with anti-competitive business tactics. Collusion is the cooperation of two or more businesses to keep prices high, when they cooperate the public has no choice to buy these high prices goods, and the companies involved make a fortune. Monsanto’s business tactics are meant to keep competitors out of the market and to force farmers to be dependent on their products.

Monsanto positions itself as a relatively new agricultural company having formed in 2002, and focused on supporting local farmers around the world. They also promote themselves as a guardian of the environment with a mission “to produce more food while conserving more” (Monsanto.com). Today’s Monsanto conglomerate also promotes itself as the “New Merchants,” a leading research company in the field of agriculture-crop production, as well as a strong supporter of public and private research through its grant, donations and University scholarship programs.

Monsanto is an agriculture company that sells seeds to farmers and also develops chemicals that they use to genetically modify the seeds they are selling. Upon researching Monsanto, I noted that the company has been involved in a lot of unethical issues. Those major issues are the ones that I will be talking about in this reflection paper.

The farmers then give their products to the manufacturers, who represent the bottleneck of the food system (21). “The ten largest companies control half of the world’s seed supply. …Ten firms control 90% of the nearly $38.6 billion pesticide markets (111-112).” Monsanto, being one of the ten companies that controls the world’s seed supply, is a company that has patents on all of its seeds and products. It produces genetically modified crops that are resistant to its own pesticides and herbicides, so that when a pesticide or herbicide is sprayed and it destroys all plants, the Monsanto seed survives because of its resistance. The reason that Monsanto is able to stay in business is because of the economic benefit it poses for the farmers. They are able to produce their crops at a much higher yield because they are losing less of their crops to pests. This higher yield results in lower costs for the consumers as well (Planes). As discussed

Monsanto is controlling the farmers and manipulating organic farmers to use their patented seeds and artificial growth hormone to increase production. As, Troy Roush, VP of American Corn Growers Association explains “In the case of Monsanto their control is so dominant, if you want to be in production agriculture, you’re going to be in bed with Monsanto (Food Inc 1:15:40-1:15-48). Monsanto should not have the right to control what the farmers can and cannot do. Monsanto has induced politician and the government to abdicate their responsibility to protect consumers through funding their campaign and heavy lobbying. As Michael Pollan clarifies “For the last 25 years, our government has been dominated by the industries that it was meant to be regulating” (1:17:07-1:17:13). The consumers and farmers should be the ones deciding and voting on the farming practices, not congress or large seed industries. I believe the farmers should reject to use Monsanto’s seeds and have the right to save, clean and reuse the seeds from their harvests. It should be unacceptable and illegal for the government to change ancient agricultural farming; hence we would have a healthy food chain. Government and congress should focus on the interest of consumers and farmers and not be conquered by large companies. The government needs to revisit the seed patenting law and sign an agreement of the

According to Monsanto’s web page, the company understands the growing debate of how agriculture should work, and believes it is a good thing that consumers are becoming more interested in where their food comes from. They said it is the first step in aiding the public on how agricultural systems function.

Monsanto’s was founded by John F. Queeny in 1901in St. Louis, MO. The first product for the company was artificial sweetener. This open the door for many years of success for the company. The most controversial product that the company produced was called Agent Orange. This product was used doing the Vietnam War. The purpose of the product was to clear some of the foliage in the jungles of Vietnam. The product contained dioxin which was harmful to the U.S. Military Personnel fighting the Vietnam War. Monsanto made a large class action settlement for harm done to the soldiers. That has been the ethical dilemma for Monsanto’s for a long time.

In a poll in 2014 measuring the reputation quotient of major companies, Monsanto ranked the third-lowest, above companies like BP, Bank of American and fell just behind Halliburton. For the better part of Monsanto's history, it has been a chemical company which produced compounds used in electrical equipment, adhesives, plastics, and paint. They also produced chemicals like DDT, Agent Orange, Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), Monsanto is best known for genetically modified organisms, or GMOs (Bennett, 2014).

“Monsanto Company started off its chemical business in 1997, Monsanto traces its roots to John Francisco Queeny, a purchaser for a wholesale drug house, who formed the Monsanto Chemical Works in St. Louis, Missouri”(Barboza). In the mid-1990s, it became the first to widely market genetically engineered

Nowadays, Monsanto has transformed to agriculture business so as to, as they declared, “find sustainable

Monsanto had exhibited quite a history from its early beginnings in 1901. It commenced with the creator and owner John F. Queeny who at that time chose to name the company after his wife – Olga Monsanto Queeny. The first product produced was an artificial sweetener called saccharine, which was sold to Coca-Cola (Ferrell & Hartline 2014). Over time, Monsanto would reinvent the company’s focus and expand additional product lines that include – agricultural chemicals, synthetic rubber, petroleum, Roundup Herbicide (Ferrell & Hartline 2014). These transitions eventually lead the company to focus its efforts on biotechnology; therefore, begin the process of manipulating seeds that included herbicides, as a result, would aid crop farmers by eliminating

Monsanto Company is the world’s largest seed company. They specialize in genetic manipulation of organisms.

Monsanto is a Saint Louis Chemical manufacturer that is a major player in the weed killing business. Monsanto has quite a portentous past. They developed and produced the notorious defoliant "Agent Orange" used in the Vietnam War, they invented the controversial recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), and they were the inventors and world’s main producer of

Big businesses have a major influence towards American agriculture. Large capital investments have contributed to the success of American agriculture. Monsanto is the world’s leading agricultural biotechnology company that has used fundamentally changed the way many