PRECURSOR TO HELTHWYZER AND ORGANINC?

Presented by: Livier Clark, Leann Lyons, Katie Turner, and Franklin Zafires

Who or what is ?

Monsanto was founded in 1901 by John Francis Queeny as a chemical company that would produce the chemical sweetener saccharin.

Over the years Monsanto began to produce other products like vanilla, and eventually moved on to focus on biotechnology. Today Monsanto states they are a new company that only shares the name of the old company.

In the 1980’s they were the first company to make the first genetically modified plant cell.

What are GMOs?

GMOs are genetically modified organisms. A genetically engineered animal is one that contains a recombinant DNA construct producing a new trait. Through genetic engineering, organisms are given new combinations of genes and therefore new combinations of traits that do not occur in nature and, indeed, cannot be developed by natural means. Such an artificial technology is radically different from traditional plant and animal breeding.

Patenting Life

In 1980 the Supreme Court ruled that modified life could be patented, and thus Monsanto patented their Roundup ready seeds – seeds that were resistant to their weed killer called Roundup. This includes alfalfa, corn, soybeans, and sugarbeets.

In Oryx and Crake, just as in our current world, GMOs can be patented. Examples of these are the ChickieNobs patented by the students at Watson-Crick, NooSkins at HelthWyzer, and the pigoons at OrganInc. Even Crake’s BlyssPluss.

Protecting GMOs – Monsanto’s Contracts

Monsanto has come under a lot of criticism due to their practices of protecting their patents.

Before buying and using GM products from Monsanto farmers must sign an agreement that gives Monsanto permission to freely examine and test their crops, and access to all records and receipts the farmers have.

Protecting GMOs – Monsanto Contracts

Within the contracts that Monsanto has are stipulations that farmers can not save seeds for the next season, thus farmers must buy new seed every season.

Some farmer’s are unaware of this restriction or do not agree with it, and thus run into trouble with Monsanto.

Protecting Genetically Modified Products in Oryx and Crake

In Oryx and Crake there aren’t contracts, but physical barriers are put in place to try to protect GMOs.

The pigoons are kept in special buildings with high security to prevent theft, and the ChickNobs at Watson-Crick are also kept in a secured facility until the students are able to patent the product and work out deals with companies.

Monsanto’s Investigation Team

Monsanto has a sizeable amount of hired investigators that they employee to catch patent infringement. These investigators are known to scout out farms, pretend to be surveyors, videotape and photograph farmers, and even impersonate others to obtain private information that will support claims of patent infringement.

Some farmers, and even non-farmers, have had Monsanto investigators confront them and use scare tactics and threats to get them to sign contracts that would give Monsanto permission to check crops and records.

Monsanto’s Investigation Team

Monsanto’s investigators go after anyone who is anti-Monsanto. Should someone speak out against Monsanto, they are put onto a blacklist that prevents them from doing business with Monsanto, and due to paranoia, Monsanto watches them like a hawk waiting for evidence that they are trying to use Monsanto products without signing an agreement.

The CorpSeCorps

Monsanto’s investigators can be compared to the CorpSeCorps from Oryx and Crake. The CorpSeCorps investigate anyone anti-government, particularly anyone that gets in the way of the powerful compounds. When it turns out Jimmy’s mother has gathered information and run off with it, they show up and make repeated appearances through Jimmy’s life. They place him in a room with just them, and try to intimidate and coax him into saying things. They continue to be a routine part of his life up until the chapter Gripless when Jimmy’s mother is killed.

Monsanto’s Power

Monsanto is one of most powerful companies in the United States, and in the world. They have people linked to them, either as past employee or clients, in powerful position of law making and regulation. If they can shut down a farmer or critic that doesn’t agree with them, then they will. If they can sway the law and important decisions in their favor, then they will.

Monsanto has billions of dollars, which they use to influence foreign countries into approving GMOs, particularly Roundup ready GMOs. However, the use of high-yield GMOs in America and other Western countries is upsetting global trade, and is linked to an increase in farmer suicides.

Monsanto’s Power

Using their billions of dollars Monsanto can easily take farmer’s to court, but most of the farmer’s they target do not have the money to fight Monsanto, so they instead accept Monsanto’s unsupported accusations and pay patent infringement penalties rather than attorney and court fee defending their name and integrity.

Monsanto uses this difference of wealth to their advantage.

The Power of the Compounds

In Oryx and Crake the rich and well off live in the Compounds, while everyone else and the poor live in the Pleeblands. The companies and people within the compound produce products, which they then sell to the people in the Pleeblands. It’s all about profit, and it doesn’t really matter if people are worse off with what is being sold to them.

Their power is also demonstrated due to their implied use of the CorpSeCorps to shut down anyone that speaks out against them or may speak out against them.

The future?

Oryx and Crake is implied to be our future if changes aren’t made, and if that’s the case, then it’s possible the Monsanto and other such companies are precursors to HelthWyzer, OrganiInc, etc.

Why should we care?

We should care, because we all can agree that the world of Oryx and Crake is not exactly one we want to live in.

Companies should be allowed to protect what is theirs, but we need to draw the line someone, and we have the chance to do that now with Monsanto, who uses money and fear mongering to get their way, even if it does more harm than good.

Monsanto does not have to label its genetically modified foods, the consuming public have no complete knowledge of how dangerous the foods they are eating. I could relate Monsanto to the novel's HappiCuppa bean growers. Coffee beans modified to ripen simultaneously thus maximizing profits for large corporations and driving the smaller business owners to poverty. Monsanto does not care about human plight, it cares only about revenue. 

Annotated Bibliography

Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. New York: Anchor Books, 2004. Print. Atwood's novel is set in a dystopic world that could parallel our own. The main character is Jimmy/Snowman, who struggles to survive after his friend Crake has essentially destroyed humanity through a genetically modified virus that was released globally. His job is to look after Crake's GM humans, deemed Crakers, now that everyone else his dead. As he does this Atwood reveals the world as it was before the event through Jimmy's/Snowman's memories. The well off and rich lived in compound separate from the poor and "wild" people in the Pleeblands. Within the compounds, and to some degree in the Pleeblands, people works on creating new genetically engineered products and organisms that could do whatever need they needed filled. Great lengths were taken to protect these GMOs, as they could bring about great wealth, power, and prosperity.

Annotated Bibliography

Bartlett, Donald L., and James B. Steele. "Monsanto's Harvest of Fear." Vanity Fair May 2008: 156. Web. 18 April, 2013. Barlett and Steele begin with a story about a man named Gary Rinehart, a small shop owner in a small town. One day one of Monsanto's hired "seed police" loudly confronted him in his store, claiming to have proof he has illegally planted Monsanto's patented seed, but Rinehart was not even a farmer. They took him to court, but later found out their investigator got the wrong guy. Rinehart was never issued an apology and no offer to cover his attorney's fees. The authors go on to state that Monsanto uses their investigators in the farm land to bully and scare the farmers and people into signing away their privacy, and that the investigators will scout out farm, videotape an photograph farmers, and pretend to be people they aren't in order to infiltrate into private meetings. Should anyone refuse to submit to Monsanto, Monsanto will send their investigators in a campaign to pressure farmers and destroy reputations. Monsanto's power come from its Roundup resistant seed. Roundup is weed killer that is sprayed on crops. Monsanto was able to patent the seed in 1980, and has since then lead extreme campaigns protect their patent. Part of the agreement to using Monsanto's seed is that you can't save it for future planting, but many farmers are unaware of this or find throwing away good seed as wasteful, and thus run into trouble. Due to natural conditions and animals Monsanto's seed can easily contaminate other crops and seeds, but to a farmer without a lab there is no way to tell them apart, and thus Monsanto uses this to their advantage to go after farmers. Innocent farmer's attacked by Monsanto often chose to pay penalty fees over fighting Monsanto in court, because they cannot afford it. Monsanto is a chemical company leading in the field of bioengineering. Monsanto was founded by John Francis Queeny in 1901 to produce the chemical sweetener saccharin. Monsanto was the first company to make a genetically modified plant cell. Over the years Monsanto has repeatedly dismissed concerns over the safety of the chemicals they produce, and uses their power to shut critics down.

Annotated Bibliography

"Company History." Monsanto. Monsanto Company, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. Monsanto was founded in 1901, but presently Monsanto views

themselves as a company that is different from where they originally started. In 2011 the company acquired a corn breeding facility, and received USDA permission to plant their GMO alfalfa and sugarbeets. Also in 2011 they obtained a lab for developing biotechnology to control agricultural pests like nematodes, and set up a grant program in St. Louis.

Annotated Bibliography

Cox, Stan. Sick Planet: Corporate Food and Medicine. London: Pluto Press, 2008. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 14 April, 2013. Pages 74-75, Cox states that Monsanto is a forerunner in the GMO industry, protected by a 1980 Supreme court ruling that allowed GMOs to be patented. This ruling was later expanded in 2001 to guarantee protection to parts of GMO, such as seed. Monsanto has many patented crops, such as soybeans and corn, which they sell to farmers, but in order to buy this seed farmer's much agree to a "Technology/Stewardship Agreement" which outlines what they may and may not do with the seed, and give's Monsanto various permissions, such as permission to inspect the crops, records, and receipts. In order to prepare for the next season farmer's normally set aside seed, but Monsanto's agreement prohibits farmer's from doing this, so they must buy new seed every season. Monsanto apparently has an entire force of investigators and billions of dollars set aside just to catch anyone that infringes on the agreements made. According to Cox, Monsanto has taken 147 farmers to court in 2005. Monsanto even has a tip line, and encourages farmers to turn each other in should they suspect another farmer of patent infringement.

Annotated Bibliography

Hodge, Russ. Genetic Engineering : Manipulating The Mechanisms Of Life. n.p.: Facts On File, 2009.eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 18 Apr. 2013. Scientists are learning how to manipulate the genes of plants and animals and changing existing organisms and creating new ones. Genetic engineering is a process in which recombinant DNA technology is used to introduce desirable traits into organisms. A genetically engineered animal is one that contains a recombinant DNA construct producing a new trait. While conventional breeding methods have long been used to produce more desirable traits in animals, genetic engineering is a much more targeted and powerful method of introducing desirable traits into animals. The techniques involve highly sophisticated manipulations of genetic material and other biologically important chemicals. Through genetic engineering, organisms are given new combinations of genes and therefore new combinations of traits that do not occur in nature and, indeed, cannot be developed by natural means. Such an artificial technology is radically different from traditional plant and animal breeding.

 

Annotated Bibliography

Food, Inc. .Dir. Robert Kenner. Magnolia Pictures, 2009. DVD. The film Food, Inc., Monsanto's role in the GMO market is looked at. According to the film, in the 1980's the Supreme Court ruled that life could be patented, and thus today companies like Monsanto, a chemical company, are genetically engineering crops like soy and corn, which they then patent under their name. Over 90% of soybeans in the U.S. now contain the genetically

modified genes patented by Monsanto. To control farmers and keep profit high, Monsanto prohibits farmers from saving seed from one years' crop to plant in the subsequent year, which is what is traditionally done. Should Monsanto believe a farmer has saved seed they militantly investigate and harass farmers who often cannot afford to fight back against Monsanto's claim of patent infringement, even if the farmer has not actually infringed on the patent. David Runyon, a farmer interviewed in the film, describes Monsanto's investigation force as being intimidating and possibly ex-military or ex-police, and goes on to say that these investigators would follow him wherever he went to watch him. One farmer does not plant Monsanto seed, but neighboring farms do, and should any of the seed or pollen end up in his crop Monsanto is able to aggressively go after him for violating patents, but avoiding this is nearly impossible and the burden of proof falls on the innocent farmer. Should farmer's express discontent with Monsanto's practices, or refuse to turn over documentation on their crops and facilities, then Monsanto blacklists them, but the issue is that non-GMO, non-Monsanto seed is becoming scarce. Farmers just starting out and with little money have little option, but to go along with Monsanto if they intend to become or remain successful. Monsanto has close ties with many government officials, some being past employees or clients.

Annotated Bibliography

Todhunter, Colin. "Genetic Engineering and the GMO Industry: Corporate Hijacking of Food and Agriculture."

GlobalResearch. Centre for Research on Globalization, 3 Jan, 2012. Web. 18 Feb, 2013. Todhunter states that Monsanto is a

large and powerful company. Part of this power in the Unites States comes from their political power. They have people who are directly involved within portions of the government, such as the Food and Drug Administration. This gives them immense power, and an advantage in getting the result they want, and in getting rid of criticism. According to Todhunter, many farmer suicides can be linked to the GMO industry, because GMOs were not working out as claimed. The booming GMO industry in the United States is upsetting trade globally, and particularly in poorer countries. Internationally,

companies like Monsanto are using their power to push into the markets of other countries to make profit.