Is Monsanto's Technology 'Competition-Ready'?

by Cameron Scott · 2010-01-18 13:09:00 UTC
Topics: show more

For a moment, set aside new research that suggests that Monsanto's GMO corn damages internal organs, and just think about this: The seed giant's Roundup-Ready technology is a gene modification that allows crops to withstand application of the herbicide Roundup, also made by Monsanto. Roundup is a powerful chemical that kills everything in sight -- except crops with the patented gene modification.

Does that sound healthy, much less appetizing?

You don't have to be a food radical to decide you'd rather pass on these crops, but only a food radical could find a way to do so successfully: Nine of 10 soybean and cotton seeds are Roundup-Ready, and the FDA doesn't require foods made with GMO ingredients to be labeled. The bulk of corn planted in the United States is also Roundup-Ready.

In a recent interview with NPR, farmer Luke Ulrich said, "There's nothing like Roundup-Ready. A monkey could farm with it."

Whatever causes farmers to begin using Monsanto's patented seeds, once they do, they face lawsuits for saving their seeds from year to year as well as regular price increases -- the cost of the seeds wen up 50 percent last year alone. Farmers can't go back to non-GMO seeds because Roundup has killed all the healthy microbes in the soil. (See here for a farmer-led challenge to GMO dominance.)

You'd think Monsanto would be comfortable with its market position, but, instead, it's eyeing 2014, when its patent on Roundup-Ready seeds will expire. It's now pushing companies that sell the seeds to move over to Roundup-Ready 2, which, Monsanto claims, will boost crops' productivity. Making RR2 the industry standard by 2014 will preempt any generic competition.

It's this move that, according to NPR, led Dupont to say enough! and sue Monsanto for antitrust violations. Monsanto also aggressively controls which of their own gene modifications its competitors can mix with Roundup-Ready technology.

On Friday, a district judge ruled that Dupont had violated that part of Monsanto's contract, but left open a challenge on antitrust grounds.

Farmers are likely routing for Dupont. As Ulrich told NPR, "I don't care how good Roundup-Ready 2 is; if you tell me I can save back my own seed, I'm going to plant my own seed."

Photo credit: Foto3116

Cameron Scott writes The Thin Green Line blog at SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle).
PREVIOUS STORY:
If We Cut Salt, Will Processed Food Need Quality Ingredients?
NEXT STORY:
Victory! Smithfield Will Stop Using Cruel Gestation Crates

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.