When I think about genetically modified foods the immediate thoughts of lies, betrayal, and dangers come to mind. There are the lies that promote the production of these foods, there is the betrayal of our government and multiple agencies that are supposed to protect us as a people and keep us informed of whether there is safety in growing and eating these foods, and, at worse, the danger surrounding the consumption of these foods which correlates with the arising issues among the human populace and our environment. As you have begun to read I can almost be certain that you believe I simply have an axe to grind with the issues concerning genetically modified foods. Maybe you believe I am biased and unfair toward the production of these engineered
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This company, to date, is 115 years old and they are head-quartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto places their work in what is called transgenesis, which is the mutation, deletion, or insertion of genes into a commercial plant (Louv 9). Simply stated, it is the alteration of genetic sequencing as an introduction of foreign material into a desired plant. A method which means these plants are infected with the DNA of another source to ultimately acquire desired traits on a specific plant variety (10).
However, their history is not so much the same as their present day status; their previous business involvement was with chemicals and plastics (7). Many chemicals that Monsanto made in the past are now considered carcinogenic and most definitely illegal today. Just a few of the chemicals they are credited with creating are the now-banned dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), the now-banned polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB’s), the controversial recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) and Aspartame, and the infamous chemical Agent Orange used in Vietnam. Monsanto was also tapped into by the United States Government to help in the development of the atomic bomb (7-8). With this controversial use technology they had then brought their biotech knowledge into the field of agriculture in the 1980’s, and have now become one of the leading companies of agricultural biotechnology in the world
This company, to date, is 115 years old and they are head-quartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto places their work in what is called transgenesis, which is the mutation, deletion, or insertion of genes into a commercial plant (Louv 9). Simply stated, it is the alteration of genetic sequencing as an introduction of foreign material into a desired plant. A method which means these plants are infected with the DNA of another source to ultimately acquire desired traits on a specific plant variety (10).
However, their history is not so much the same as their present day status; their previous business involvement was with chemicals and plastics (7). Many chemicals that Monsanto made in the past are now considered carcinogenic and most definitely illegal today. Just a few of the chemicals they are credited with creating are the now-banned dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), the now-banned polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB’s), the controversial recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) and Aspartame, and the infamous chemical Agent Orange used in Vietnam. Monsanto was also tapped into by the United States Government to help in the development of the atomic bomb (7-8). With this controversial use technology they had then brought their biotech knowledge into the field of agriculture in the 1980’s, and have now become one of the leading companies of agricultural biotechnology in the world