The multinational, agricultural biotechnology corporation Monsanto developed the first widely used genetically modified crop in 1996 with the introduction of the “Roundup Ready” soybean. Farmers first used Roundup, a herbicide created by Monsanto in 1974, to kill weeds in their agricultural fields. The herbicide became Monsanto’s most important product. Shortly before Monsanto’s glyphosate (an active ingredient in Roundup) patent was to expire in 2000, the corporation managed to transplant it into the cells of soybean plants. This created a genetically modified crop that was resistant to the Roundup herbicide. Farmers were now able to spray the entirety of their fields with Roundup and only eliminate the unwanted weeds without harming the crops. More recently, Monsanto has spread this technology to include crops such as corn, canola, alfalfa, and cotton among others. However, farmers using Monsanto products nowadays face problems like the dependance on Monsanto crops and seeds, the large contamination with GMOs, and an increasingly developing resistance of weeds against glyphosates. Currently, there are ongoing debates about the corporation’s historic role in numerous pollution scenarios (PCBs [polychlorinated biphenyls] and chemical pesticides like DDT and Agent Orange) as well as about their endeavors to dominate the international seed market and to patent all kinds of life forms (biopiracy).
Contributed by Ashley Hutchison
Course: Global Environmental History
Instructor: Andrew Stuhl, Ph.D.
Bucknell University Lewisburg, US