Oil Wars: DuPont and Monsanto Compete to Create GM Soybeans

While most of the country's attention focuses on oil in the Gulf, there's a new oil war going on in Big Ag labs and corporate offices. GMO giants Monsanto and DuPont are working on creating genetically modified soybeans that contain healthier oil. According to the New York Times, the USDA approved DuPont's high-oleic, biotech soybean today. Folks could be eating new varieties of biotech soybeans by 2012, much to the chagrin of many environmentalists and sustainable foodies.

While the USDA approved DuPont's GM soybean today, the crop already had approval in Canada and Mexico. The company is now waiting for the EU to get on board and will likely start shipping out the soybean seeds in 2012. DuPont bioengineered the high-oleic soybean to contain healthier oils.

While DuPont's "healthy" soybean is the first to get the USDA's go-ahead, the company's rival, Monsanto, is hot on its heels. Monsanto has two varieties of biotech soybeans in the works that aim to eliminate trans fats and produce oil that contains omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil). The company hopes the GM soybean oil will eventually be used to create healthier yogurts, granola bars, spreads, and other snack foods.

The soybean wars mark a shift in focus for biotech producers. Currently, GM crops are modified to resist weeds and insects. Creating crops that boast health benefits for people is new territory for Monsanto and DuPont.

Normally I get behind any company that aims to create more nutritious foods. But seeing as these crops are coming from DuPont and Monsanto, I don't want to touch them with a ten-foot pole. Monsanto's GM cotton is blamed for a huge pest outbreak in China. And just yesterday, Change.org featured a story on the spread of superweeds, plants that became resistant to Monsanto's herbicide and are choking out the nation's corn, soybeans, and cotton. Twenty years ago when Monsanto released its Roundup Ready GM crops and herbicide, the product was lauded as a huge blessing to both farmers and the environment. Now we're seeing firsthand how GM crops can turn against us. I'd hate to see a similar scenario go down with "healthy" GM soybeans.

Still, some argue that more than 90 percent of America's soybean crop is already genetically modified. Monkeying with it some more so that soybeans boast bigger health benefits couldn't possibly do any more damage, could it?

So what do you think, readers? Should DuPont and Monsanto be allowed to sow their "healthy", biotech soybean seeds? Or are we setting ourselves up for another Roundup Ready-like catastrophe?

Photo credit: Nyttend via Wikimedia Commons