Nowman Vs Monsanto Essay

Genetically modified crops are harmful to humans and the environment and shouldn't be used. Agriculture should proceed in harmony with nature and nature only. That is why some people have decided to buy organically grown food. From their experiences with organic food, they believe that the organic system can be economically practical. This system also provides a wide range of environmental and social benefits, and most importantly, it enables consumers to make a choice about the food they eat. According to Diana Brander, an American biology teacher, we should have the choice of the type of food we eat.

Monsanto makes money by selling their genetically altered seeds to farmers. The farmers sign an contract that says they are not allowed to save and replant those seeds sold to them next year. Sometimes, a farmer might save some seeds for next year, in which case Monsanto finds out, and sues them (Why Does Monsanto Sue Farmers?). Sometimes, genetically modified material from Monsanto accidentally ends up in a farmers field. Regardless of intention, Monsanto will still sue. This is because of a law that allows companies to patent genetic alterations. With its patents, Monsanto and companies like it basically own these small business farmers. If there were no genetic modifications, the farmers would be free to farm normal seeds, without having to sell their soul for debatably better

Breaking News: Monsanto suing more farmers for planting seeds of past plants. Hearing these words I sigh, what has our world come to? What if there was an apocalyptic situation? How would we survive if all of our seeds couldn’t be reused? It seems as if Monsanto is trying to accomplish world domination, but is Monsanto the one at fault here or are there doing the right thing?

Genetically Modified Crops are a damaging thing not only to the health of it’s consumers but to the environment as well. When genes are altered and changed it goes against everything their natural state has to offer. The possibilities of this new engineered plant are endless and can essentially in one aspect lower the nutrition levels. When plants are taken out of their natural state and placed into a lab for genetic modification the levels once found in the natural plant can become lost and or not as strong. The companies who produce these genetically modified seeds are altering creation; the genes. When food is consumed, portions of that food are taken into the cells to replenish, repair, and make new cells. If those cells are surrounded by toxic substances such as the chemicals in the food, it becomes easier for the cells to take in that material as well.

"The World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the British Royal Society, and every other respected organization that has examined the evidence has come to the same conclusion: Consuming foods containing ingredients derived from GM crops is no riskier than consuming the same foods containing ingredients from crop plants modified by conventional plant improvement techniques," according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Lallanilla). If all of these organizations feel that these products are just as safe as “organic” products, then that mean something. The fear of genetically modified organisms seems to be more emotional than factual. More of our natural resources are being saved due to the use of GM technology. More recently, the FDA has approved potatoes that are genetically modified to not bruise and apples that do not brown. These apples were created by decreasing the amount of the enzyme in them that causes them to brown or bruise. Tomatoes have been created antifreeze genes from coldwater fish that cause the tomatoes to resist frost and freezing temperatures (Lallanilla). Tomato prices can skyrocket in the winter months when the production of tomatoes is limited to only certain areas of the world. If these tomatoes were approved, these prices would go down and we would not have to worry about the lack of

According to the article “Foreign Policy in Focus” there are twenty-six countries that have banned GMOs for good because of all the negative side effects GMOs have. Even still, there are other countries that allow GMOs but are required to have a label with everything that used to make the product. Additionally, farmers have many positive, but also negative opinions when it comes to the use of GMOs. Looking at it on the positive side they are able to use fewer pesticides on crops but farmers are afraid that sooner or later worms and weeds will adapt. If you look at it in the negative side biotechnology companies have been able to obtain patents with which to restrict the use of GMOs. As a result, the companies that make GMOs now have the power to sue farmers whose fields are contaminated with GMOs even when it is the result of inevitable drift from neighboring fields. GMOs therefore pose a serious threat to farmer sovereignty and to the national food security of any country where they are grown, including the United States. Many farmers are beginning to take different alternatives to this problem. For example, farmers are now abandoning GMO seeds for crops and using non-GMO seeds; not only are they better, but they also bring farmers a higher profit since there is a demand for non-GMO

Putting small farmers out of business, a history of paying lobbyists to block government regulations on genetically modified organisms, destroying the environment, lacking testing on their products; these are all characteristics of Monsanto’s company. Monsanto is a company that provides the largest producer of genetically engineered seeds (Neuman). Monsanto’s corporation is a danger to our health and environment.

GMOs have been around for quite some time. Farmers have been cross-breeding and modifying their crops for thousands and thousands of years. GMOs were originally made to create the best crops for farmers to farm and distribute. Elton Robinson, a editor for Delta Farm Press says that Genetically-engineered or GMO crops are safe, reduced in chemical use and contribute to the long-term profitability of farmers all over the world (Robinson). Through these words he conveys that GMOs are vital. A world without genetically engineered crops would be horrible, food costs would soar, yields would go down, input costs would rise and many farmers would have to resort to less-environmentally friendly methods of controlling

If a local farmer has fields near a big industrial farm that uses spray pesticides that helps benefit their crops and overspray gets on the local farmer's field, the industry farmer can sue him due to patents (“GMOs”). With that being said, genetically modified organisms affect farmers in all sorts of ways (“GMOs”). Recent polls from New York Times and CBS state that fifty-three percent of people would not buy food with genetically modified organisms in them (“GMOs”). What people do not realize is that farmers have to modify food so it will grow faster to feed our population, because we have a very large population, and local farms are not able to grow enough crops much less quick enough to feed the people in their

When GMO seeds where first developed, the corporations responsible for their development managed to patent them. Due to the nature of plant life and the process of pollination, it is near impossible to control when and where the genetic material of the seed is spread. This has caused many smaller farms that had not yet transitioned to the new types of GMO seeds to fall under fire by the company’s, setting in motion a trend in which farmers are being sued and forced into the use of GMO seed to continue farming. Furthermore, small farms that had attempted to maintain their independence from the modified seeds could no longer keep up with the production levels of their competitors. On the other hand, historically crops have fallen victim to many different forms of nature’s enemies. Invasion by native and foreign insect populations, and overgrowth by dominate plants or weeds are two major limiting factors in crop production. Agriculture is no stranger to this battle, it has been a push-pull relationship for as long as we can remember. Farmers and companies develop ways to control the nuisance and mother nature, through process of evolution, becomes resistant to those measures. This is not a new process and it should not be of any surprise that when GMOs are used to develop a new means to fight this ongoing battle they too will be surpassed by nature and new

According to GMO Timeline – A History of Genetically Modified Foods it began in 1973 when scientist Herbert Boyer combined his ideas with Stanley Cohen and created the first successful DNA fingerprinting. Move along twenty years and the first approval of a genetically modified food is the Flavr Savr tomato, it was approved for retail in grocery stores by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This tomato has delayed ripening as well as a longer shelf life to other tomatoes sold. After the debut of the first GMO, the U.S. continued to cultivate more genetically modified food. Now, as stated in the documentary GMO OMG ,“85 % of corn, 91% of soy, 90 % canola, and 90% of sugar beets contribute to 165 million acres of GMO’s.” A common mistake that people believe is that crossbreeding or hybridization is the same as genetically modified. Although this is entirely not true, the article Hybrids vs. GMOs clarifies “Hybrids have happened naturally throughout history via cross-pollination”, and genetic modification is explained as “Genetically engineered or GMO foods are not hybridized foods. They can contain genetic material from one organism (say a fish) that would never naturally be found in another organism (say a tomato)”. So why do companies use GMOs? Ultimately for profit. The manufacturer of seeds are able to patented them as intellectual property, giving them power of the

Did you know that 95% of the nation 's sugar beets, 94% of soybeans, 90% of the cotton and 88% of feed corn today are genetically engineered. According to the Institute for Responsible technology, Genetically Modified Organisms are the result of a laboratory process where genes from the DNA of one species are extracted and artificially forced into the genes of an unrelated plant or animal. Today in the United States there are seven major genetically altered crops including Maize, Soybean, Cotton, Canola, Sugarbeet, Alfalfa, Papaya, and Squash. GMO’s came along by farmers having flaws with a crop, like if a tomato had a beetle every year and the farmer was spending large amounts of money on pesticides every year. Then a biotechnology company comes out with a tomato that produces its own natural pesticide, you would be nuts to continue in the old ways.

Even though there are a lot of pros for genetically modified food there are some cons is well. One of the problems are allergies. Food allergies are a growing problem in the United States. According to The CDC” food allergies and children under 18 years of age have increased from 3.4% between 1997 and 1999 to 5.1% between 2009 and 2011.” Leave that Spike is a link to genetically modified foods. There is no evidence that this is true but studies at Harvard University saw that “GM foods in general are most likely to trigger allergic reactions other than non-GM

Genetically Modified foods are made to withstand harsher condition than normal soybeans, meaning that more of them will survive to then be sold. Furthermore, these GM soybeans will also last longer due to their implanted gene. With a bigger amount of soybeans, the farmers can then allow the soybeans to be sold for a cheaper price, which will ensure that customers will buy their products as they are cheaper than others. Due to those reasons, farmers with the right to use GM soybeans will make more money and do so faster as they will have more soybeans to sell. This however is a disadvantage for small farms who do not have enough money or who don’t want to buy GM soybeans as they will produce fewer soybeans as they do not possess the genes which make them resist herbicides and harsher weather. A smaller amount of soybeans to sell will then make the farmers without the right to use GM soybeans have less income. Furthermore, these farmers are unable to make the soybeans cheaper as they would then not make any profit. Another factor which is heavily impacted by the GM soybeans is the

GMO foods are not the most healthy or honest foods, but they are the most helpful. Many fruits and vegetables are engineered to be resistant to bugs and diseases that could cause famine. This helps farmers all over the country by giving them a better harvest. Also, non-sanitary soil has become a large problem in some places around the world. The soil made it harder for crops to grow in certain environments. To solve this problem, scientists could take a gene from a plant that can live in these conditions, and plant it into another crop’s genome. This would make the crop that