The Ethics Of Monsanto 's Ethical Culture

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.

Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMO’s, are organisms that have had genes from a different organism implanted into their own genetic code in order to produce a new result (“Genetically engineered foods”). This practice has elicited polar responses across the globe, for a multitude of reasons. Besides the obvious reason, being the morality of changing an organism's DNA for human benefit, one frequently noted problem is the monopolization of GMO’s by the company Monsanto, whose name is nearly synonymous with GMO’s due to their involvement with these crops. Monsanto has been at the center of many controversies regarding GMO’s, and is even considered to be ranked third to last for reputation among all major American companies (Bennett). Most

The world may be in danger of what Monsanto puts on families dinner tables. According to Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele’s article: Monsanto’s harvest of fear “Monsanto’s is the world leader in genetic modification of seeds and has 674 biotechnology patents”. 90% of the GMO’s in the world belong to Monsanto. The world has inherited Monsanto’s GMO’s in North and South America, Asia and Australia. Monsanto will eventually own food if consumers continue purchasing his GM products this reason being that Monsanto modifies its crops in order to make harvesting faster and easier making it more convenient to arrive on your dinner tables faster.

Genetically modified crops are an incredibly important issue that everyone should be aware of since it is something we are exposed to at a daily basis. Genetically modified crops also known as GM crops or Biotech crops has been one of the most heated debates of issues within our society. The debate about the safety, concerns and disadvantages of GM crops have raged since the mid 1990 's but this is due to the lack of knowledge of the general public. Many people are unaware of what the GM crops actually are and what they offer. Genetically modified crops are plants that are used in the agriculture and have been modified to initiate a new trait to plants that does not happen naturally in the species. These plants are modified using genetic engineering techniques to enhance desired traits. GM crops are made when genes of commercial interest are transferred from one organism to another.() There are many methods used for the production of GM crops but the two primary used for plant insertion are gene guns and agrobacterium tumefaciens. There are also three types of modifications which are transgenic, cisgenic, and subgenic plants. However, there are a number of issues that surround this controversial topic such as environmental, health, and economic concerns. Even though there are some worrying facts about GM crops people don 't realize the advantages or the ways it has helped humans as well as animals. There are many reasons why GM crops are proven

Monsanto is notoriously known for partaking in the industrial production of herbicides and chemical warfare for militant use. Specifically, Monsanto is infamously known for the production of Agent Orange, a defoliant/herbicide used during the Vietnam War. Since its use, one of the many chemically adverse effects Agent Orange has been responsible for to this day are birth defects specifically among children related to veterans who have serviced in the Vietnamese and Korean military. Although Monsanto has moved away from the production of chemical warfare to the production of GMOs for human consumption, it is ethically debatable for Monsanto to be the leading industry to specialize in GMO production. The ethicality of Monsanto's contribution and influence in GMO production is also questionable due to Monsanto's economic position in domineering the seed market and GMO market, raising the possible risk of Monsanto's monopoly in both markets. Due to the intersectionality of GMO technology in socio-political private and public spheres, it is important to further research the credibility and ethicality of GM produces before its consumption and technology begin to raise problematic economic, environmental, and medical

Ethical issues remain relevant aspects for businesses operation and competitiveness. The elements aforesaid ensure that every firm has what it takes to connect well with the community to provide consistent market and productive relationship with other stakeholders. Monsanto Company that was in a tussle with the community over the production of the genetically modified products that seemed detrimental to the society responded by creating awareness to the people about the need for sustainable farming practices (Carroll, 2015). The company notified farmers that the world population was increasingly going up thus a need for sustainable agricultural practices. The company

In this article, Tamara Thompson asks common questions regarding genetically modified organisms otherwise known as GMOs. She gives a decent definition of GMOs as plant seeds that are modified to resist certain insects as well as harsh weather conditions. It is a very biased article, drawing attention to the company, Monsanto, in particular. She repeatedly assures her readers that GMOs are safe and that Monsanto currently works to the standards of organizations, such as the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA), Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She concludes with the benefits of GMOs nutritional value and how they contribute to reducing draws on natural resources such as fossil fuels. This article was beneficial, although biased it gave insight to what companies such as Monsanto want the public to believe. I found this article in Opposing Viewpoints with the search entry being genetically modified foods.

“ The Monsanto Pledge is our commitment to how we do business. It is a declaration that compels us to listen more, to consider our actions and their impact broadly, and to lead responsibly. It helps us to convert our values into actions, and to make clear who we are and what we champion.” (Monsanto’s) This quote is supposed to be a pledge from the Monsanto Corporation, to all of its customer and supporting followers.

The seed police at Monsanto’s are in place to going after growers who reuse its seeds' technology. The seed police are in place to protect the investment of the company. Farmers have also criticized Monsanto for its aggressive efforts to identify unauthorized Roundup growers. In an attempt to crack down on seed piracy, Monsanto employs private investigators who conduct random farm audits and collect crop samples from the fields of alleged violators (Cross, 2000). To solidify its case against Schmeiser, Monsanto investigators entered the farmer's fields without his consent and collected crop samples without his permission. Monsanto’s is no stranger to the legal system. Most of their legal troubles deal with bribery and patents. Monsanto was

The patenting of GMO corn and soybean seeds is quite a deceptive business move on Monsanto’s part because it appears to protect the seeds that farmers purchase, but in turn the patents really only look out for the company’s best interest. While Monsanto sues farmers and traps them in debt for using patented products, it pretends to be working for farmers’ welfare. This paper exposes Monsanto’s use of Genetically Modified Organisms exhibited in “Induced Nuisance: Holding Patent Owners Liable for GMO Cross-Contamination” to uncover the damaging environmental and economic effects their business practices have on privately owned farms. Monsanto’s use of gene patents is responsible for the destruction of many farms, the reduction in crop varieties, and the development of resistant weeds and pests all in the name of corporate expansion. This paper also reveals Monsanto’s role in the legalization and use of gene patents globally. Monsanto’s recklessness is being uncovered in this paper because their advantageous business practices exemplify greed and class

Today’s world is all about how we can be seen as helping others, or how one county is offering support to those in need of it. When Jeremy Seifert starting his work on his film GMO-OMG (Seifert, 2013), the film started by asking people the simple question do they eat GMO. The film goes through the first 2 min of just people responses to that question and it is amazing how people were so unware of what they were eating. GMO are genetically modified organism which as the movie explains there are two primary categories of GMOs, the pesticide producer, and Herbicide resisters (Seifert, 2013) which help farmers to grow crops by making them resistant to bugs or weeds that would have destroyed crops in the past. Monsanto is one of the largest GMO producers of a corn seed that would allow for crops to grow with natural resistant to herbicide and insects. When Jeremy went to Africa to research why some of the locals were rejecting the Monsanto seeds because they said that you could only plant them once and then you would be forever in need of the replace seeds rather than just reusing seeds from the fully grown plants. The Haitian people believed that the seeds of life are a common inheritance of all humanity (Seifert, 2013).

For those perhaps unaware, Monsanto was founded in 1901 and ever since has been taking the agricultural world by storm. Monsanto was one of the very first corporations to successfully incorporate biotechnology into their business model. It is believed that the root of their controversy is surrounded by the company’s changes in direction, which shifted from pharmaceutical chemicals to applying biotechnology to crops. Since the corporation became involved with agriculture, we have seen a shift

In her online video, "Talking about food safety," Monsanto 's lead toxicologist, Shawna Lemke says that, "In recent years people have become increasingly interested in where their food comes from, and how it is produced....there is still conflicting and confusing information about Genetically Modified Foods, but because of the intense work the scientists that work here do, we all feel confident in feeding them to our kids." Monsanto is a Fortune 500 "sustainable agricultural" company that started in 1901, introducing their first product, saccharin. They move on to produce agricultural chemicals in 1945, and by 1982 they were genetically modifying plant cells (DNA). They now have 404 facilities in sixty-six countries, and supply 76% of the world 's seeds. It seems Monsanto has a stronghold on the world 's genetically modified seeds. Although Monsanto claims that genetically modified food is safe, there are conflicting studies claiming they are unsafe and cause harm to humans, plants and animals. However, there have not been any scientific research done concerning this in the United States. How would these studies affect our supply of genetically modified food here in The United States? What about the farmers? How does this stronghold affect the farmers here in the United States? The United States Government needs to perform their own scientific research studies to assess the health risks of Genetically Modified Food, and

The objective of this report is to analyze the differences in Monsanto’s experiences in the United States and Europe and the reasons of opposition in Europe, despite that, why Monsanto pushed ahead so hard.

Monsanto is a company that some people may not be explicitly familiar with on a first name basis. However, the work that the company has done over the last century, with a larger emphasis on its most recent ventures, have been deeply engrained in our lives, our food, and our economy. Monsanto has those who advocate on their behalf in addition to their naysayers. While Monsanto has made huge strides in terms of biotechnology over the last couple of decades, their accomplishments, and the relevant methods, have not been free of criticism and controversy. In order to analyze Monsanto’s corporate environment, it is important to first explore their Strengths, Weaknesses,