Monsanto Company plans to dominate the farming industry The Monsanto Company is an agricultural biotechnology corporation that operates

all over the world. Many people may agree that Monsantos potential to devastate life as we know it is second best to producers of atomic bombs. Monsanto was also involved in the Manhattan Project and the creation of the worlds first nuclear bomb ironically. Monsanto started in 1901 as a chemical company. Their first innovation was a coal tar product called saccharine, which has had a controversial history. Its more common name was SweetN Low, an artificial sweetener. Though saccharin was their first, Monsanto is also well known for many other chemically based products. Monsanto's products fall into two main categories. It is famous for its production chemicals like round up (herbicide glyphosate) as well as manufacturing genetically engineered seeds and Traits. Its main crops are soy, cotton, sugar beets, potatoes, corn and canola. These products cater to big agricultural companies as well as for home and private uses. It is responsible for over 90% of the worlds supply of modified seeds. Its two main competitors are Bayer CropScience Company and Syngenta however the bulk of their sales emphasize on herbicides and fungicides as opposed to genetically modified seeds. Monsanto's annual profit for 2010 was 1.6 billion dollars. Water is the biggest limiting factor in agriculture. Like house plants need optimal amounts of water to grow and survive, so do farmers crops. There is no doubt water is vital in producing enough food for a growing population. To put this in perspective, it takes 6,800 gallons of water to grow a days food for a family of four. The problem Monsanto claims is mainly that the world's population is growing and more food is needed, but the global water supply isnt increasing. Monsanto's mission is committed to developing the seeds farmers need to meet the challenge of growing more food using fewer resources but the question is at what cost? Their development of the genetically engineered seed and bovine growth hormone has created controversy regarding the future of the farming industry specifically regarding the organic farmers. This has made Monsanto the object of environmental activists and globalization movements. Organic farmers utilize a specific bacteria called Bacillus thuringiensis which acts as a pesticide by emitting a toxin that kills insects. Monsanto has decided to insert the bacteria's toxic gene into their crops and therefore keeping insects away. This would result in the insects immunity to the bacteria making this natural bacterial pesticide useless to organic farmers. Furthermore no one knows whether the produce that carries the bacteria toxin gene is sage for consumers so that creates a health risk. Phill Angell a spokesperson for the company told the times Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food, our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA's job. Monsanto has gone as far as to merge with a company called Delta & Pine Land. This company has excelled in seed technology by creating the Terminator. This technology produces plants that have sterile seeds so they do not flower or grow fruit after the initial planting. This prevents the spread of those seeds into the wild but more importantly it also forces customers to repurchase the seed for every planting in which they have used the Terminator seeds. This would result in farmer's dependancy on the seed suppliers. Biotechnology can offer useful solutions to serious problems in medicine however its agricultural applications are the issue. Especially when they are in the hands of profit-driven, corporations that do not stand accountable for their damage. The result of this in the long-run could be catastrophic. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12309

Genetically Modfied Seeds: Monsanto is Putting Normal Seeds Out of Reach by Linn Cohen-Cole February 14, 2009

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=3082 1. 27 Aug 2006

Monsanto Buys Terminator Seeds Company by F. William Engdahl

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/suicide-seeds/

February 9, 2005

http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:MON&fstype=ii|