The Roundup Ready Solution Is An Important Legume Crop

A product manufactured by Monsanto is the weed killer Roundup Ready 2 Xtend. The Roundup Ready 2 Xtend is used to by soybean farmers and claims to provide growers with an outstanding performance with their efforts to produce the best crop possible. However, the product is not currently approved by the Environmental Protection Agency. Farmers will like the new roundup ready plus because it will give them a higher yield on their crops. Monsanto claims that the farmers can expect up to four bushels of soybeans per acre (Monsanto, 2016). In order for the new Roundup Ready 2 Xtend to be used in the United States, each state has to approve the use of the product. The product is used by spraying it onto the crops in order to combat pests.

| Monsanto continues to grow with future acquisitions of other companies in the industry (i.e. Asgrow Agronomics, Holden’s Foundation Seeds, Corn States Hybrid Service, and DeKalb Genetics Corp.).- Monsanto expands its production of genetically modified seed products which are herbicide tolerant. These include, “Roundup Ready Canola,” “Roundup Ready Cotton,” and “Roundup Ready Corn.”- Monsanto is also the first company to introduce a dual genetically engineered seed with protection from both insects and herbicides (cotton and corn seeds).

The main ingredient used in Monsanto produce is glyphosate. Companies are injecting the plants’ seeds with glyphosate, which alters the plants’ DNA. Glyphosate is an herbicide, the same chemical used in Roundup. It is toxic to plants. Glyphosates’ purpose is to kill off unwanted weeds. Companies are injecting chemicals, whose main purpose is to kill plants, into the DNA of our foods (Hamblin). The World Health Organization (WHO) cancer agency has declared that glyphosate is a “probable human carcinogen” (Hamblin). Research conducted by WHO shows that glyphosate increases breast cancer cell growth. Researchers determined that Monsanto’s Roundup is an “exnoestrogen,” which is an unknown estrogen that imitates real estrogen in our bodies. This manipulation of estrogen can cause several problems within our bodies, such as “increased risk of various cancers, premature puberty, thyroid issues, infertility, and more”

The cost for Monsanto's Roundup Ready2 soybeans in 2010 was $70 per bag, a 143% increase in the price of GM seed since 2001. The escalating prices for GM seeds are outstripping increases in grain prices earned by farmers, resulting in farmers being squeezed by higher costs with less returns. Rather than paying so much for each season, farmers should be able to reuse the product. Wasting that much money every year on seed can hurt farmers. That money could be going toward bettering their farm or help supporting their families, but instead is going to one of the top seed companies there is.

In contrast, the counter argument claims that GMOs are unsafe for human consumption. However, GMOs actually improve human health by reducing the amount of pesticides needed for successful crop production. With the use of GMOs in crop production, the amount of pesticide and herbicide application has decreased. To resume, successful crop production is essential to a farmer’s success, which could be why over 18 million farmers throughout the world utilize GMOs. The successful production of crops can be achieved by genetically modifying crops with resistance against insects, weeds, and other threats. Resistance to different stressors has reduced pesticide applications by 8.1 percent. Additionally, crops that are modified to be resistant to specific

By 1988, soybeans were successfully being inserted with genes that made them glyphosate tolerant, which is an herbicide (Chassy 169). This is more commonly known today as round-up ready crops. The benefit of this is that now, farmers can spray round-up ready crops and not kill them. Round-up kills all other plants in the field that would otherwise be interfering with the growth of the crop. This is just one of the many traits that can be inserted into the DNA of plants. Crops can now achieve far higher yields than ever before. Corn plots at Morrow Plots at the University of Illinois have increased from 10 bushels an acre, to more than 200 bushels an acre (Chassy

Glycine max, more commonly known as soybeans, are part of the legume family and grown in various climates. The history of the plant, production worldwide, types, nutrition information, products from soybeans, pests, beneficial insects, and diseases are important to the present day growth of soybeans.

Duke, S. O. (1995). Herbicide-Resistant Crops: Agricultural, Economic, Environmental, Regulatory, and Technological Aspects. 83-84. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.

“In 2010, Russian biologist Alexey V. Surov released the results of a study testing the effects of Monsanto’s genetically modified soy on hamsters. After monitoring three generations over a two year period, third generation hamsters not only lost the ability to reproduce, but even began growing hair inside their mouths” (Gardener). Gardener provides evidence from a biologist’s study based on only one type of GM food, which was soy, to see the differences that would occur during the whole process of feeding GM food to hamsters. Throughout the study the biologist found that after three whole generations the hamster off springs could not reproduce anymore and observed that there was hair growing in their mouths, this was a genetic disorder that occurred throughout the three generations. “A scientific study published last year concluded that eating genetically modified corn (GM corn) and consuming trace levels of Monsanto’s Roundup chemical fertilizer was linked with rats developing shockingly large tumors, widespread organ damage, and premature death” (Adams). This study was published in 2012 and is also

Another advantage of genetically modified sugar beets is their resistance to herbicides or ability to control invasive weeds, which promotes cost effectiveness. On average, sugar beets require five to six months to fully mature, and during this extensive process, weeds often become invasive and consume the majority of available nutrients within the soil (Johnson, 2009). Therefore, to aid in the process of weed reduction and increase crop viability, most farmers apply an assortment of herbicides to their fields. Before genetically modified sugar beets arrived on the scene, herbicide application proved harmful for the struggling roots since active components in Roundup and other weed killers manipulated their health. Now that sugarbeets are immune

However, opponents of genetically modified crops tend to argue that they do more harm than good and production should be ceased. The largest and one of the only problems existing with modern genetically modified crops is the unfortunate appearance of “super weeds”. Although genetically modified crops can increase production and reduce insecticide usage, “thirteen years of GMO crops in the USA has increased overall pesticide use by 318 million pounds” (Engdahl 3). The constant usage of genetically modified organisms has caused a great increase in progressively tougher weeds, which have even evolved to earn the title of “Super Weeds”. One of the most fearsome super weeds is the Palmer Pigweed, which can grow up to 2.5 meters high and is incredibly resistant to weather, pesticide, and even had tools. Super weeds such as the Palmer Pigweed have even caused farmers to have to abandon their farms in places such as Arkansas.

Glyphosate is the presumed active ingredient of Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer and other commercial glyphosate-based herbicide formulations GMO soy plants treated with glyphosate have lower levels of essential nutrients and reduced growth, compared with GMO and non-GMO soy controls not treated with glyphosate (Zobiole et al., 2010). Lower nutrient up-take may partly account for the increased susceptibility of GMO soy to disease, (15) as well as its lower yield. Additionally, glyphosate use has been linked to higher levels of soil borne pathogens, like the Fusarium fungus and sudden death syndrome in Roundup Ready GMO soybeans (16). A German-Egyptian team of researchers found that all cows tested from Danish dairy farms excreted glyphosate in their urine. Unexpectedly low levels of manganese and cobalt were observed in all animals, which the authors

Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Soybean (RRS) is a genetically engineered variety of soybeans, which contains gene sequences from a cauliflower mosaic virus (CMV), a petunia, and a bacterium (Agrobacterium sp.) (Greenpeace, 1997). The two bacterial genes, in short, provide for resistance against Roundup, resulting in a crop of soybeans that can be sprayed with Roundup to protect it from weeds, while not injuring it. In 1996, U.S. farmers harvested about 1.2 million acres of Roundup Ready Soybeans, and although this crop represented only about 2 percent of U.S. soybeans, it will be mixed with conventional soybeans – unlabeled – to become part of as much as 60 percent of all processed foods that contain some soy-based ingredient (Bruno, 1997). In the United States, most consumers are likely to have already ingested small amounts of transgenic soy in such common food as margarine, chocolate, baby food, and

In in an interview done by Live Science Anne Yonkers said "We should be using the precautionary principle with GMOs, and assume that GMOs have to be demonstrated to be good rather than assume that they are good.” (Yonkers 5), modified crops accelerated the evolution in weeds at an incredible rate making them develop resistance faster. A common weed called Palmer that grows near soybeans evolved to be resistance to glyphosate an active ingredient in many weed killers such as Roundup. Do to how resistance this strain is it has spread to more than seventy-six countries and that is just the palmer weed; twenty-four other glyphosate resistant weeds have appeared in eight-teen different countries as well. Some farmers lose more than half their yield and while forcing others to go bankrupt cause of the massive money loss. With malnutrition being a very real problem can modified food be a possible solution?

Soybeans are beans which are from the legume family which are native to East Asia. They can grow on a variety of soils and wide range of climates, ranging from snowy to tropical climates (Rob). Soybeans are used to make food such as tofu and soymilk, although it is most often processed into oil, which can be used for cooking, or sold for biodiesel production. The left-over which are not used for oil can be used for animal food due to the high-protein fiber which is in the left over. The GM Soybean, also called Roundup Ready (RR) Soybean, was developed by the biotech company Monsanto and was commercially available to farmers in 1996 (Editor, 2008). This GM soybean contains a gene that makes it resistant to herbicides which would