Wars, complete with spies and lawyers masquerading as foot soldiers, rage ceaselessly in American homes. Some are as foreign as Samsung and Apple’s technology infringements, making headlines with fines and court declarations. Others deliver mail warnings against infringement for tracked, pirated media. But a more widespread and unnoticed battle grips the fields, supermarkets, and kitchens of America.
Barlett and Steele’s “Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear” interpretation of Monsanto Company’s affect on the agricultural industry, its communities, and on consumers in the course of its aggressive expansion is both aggressive and unfair. Through the use of narratives and evidence, they reiterate and reinforce aliases composed by affected communities
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Monsanto scrutinizes neighboring farms, practicing their right to enforce their patent and contract. What they take into account and chose to ignore is that their genetic product is natural and cannot be controlled completely. Monsanto’s patent allows them to prosecute neighboring farms for any concentration of their patented genetic code in their crops, regardless of whether a farmer knowingly involved themselves in infringement or was the victim of natural pollination. Barlett and Steele cite the increasing number of legal cases and settlements as means of pressuring contracted farmers to follow procedure and of allegedly pressuring uncontracted farmers to sign with Monsanto to avoid …show more content…
Barlett and Steele, after arguing a clear case against Monsanto Company’s legal tactics, fail to provide adequate evidence to supplement the testimonies of extra-legal tactics, leaving readers in a position to vindicate Monsanto’s alleged conduct based on its legal aggression. Barlett and Steele’s decision to supplement their arguments with first person narratives from targeted victims added characters to an otherwise sound chronological observation and provide authentic testimony against faceless company representatives who may not represent the views and opinions of their employer(s). Barlett and Steele, who commented minimally on nonGMO/GMO product differences, criticize Monsanto’s aggressive and unorthodox expansion and misuse of the legal system to draw attention to the heavy handed company and to its
Monsanto Company are a public American multinational agricultural and agrochemical biotechnology corporation who leads in the production of genetically engineered seeds. Founded by John Queeny in 1901, the organization initially produced industrial chemicals such as sulphuric acid and plastics, including polystyrene and synthetic fibres. It was not until 1983, where the company was among the first to genetically modify a plant cell and conduct field trials of genetically modified crops. This scientific breakthrough shifted the company 's corporate focus towards the agricultural industry with the implementation of biotechnology. The company’s primary line of products consist of herbicides and genetically modified seeds.1
Monsanto is the world 's leader on bio-technology and was found in St. Louis Missouri. Monsanto was not known as an agriculture company at first as it is now rather a chemical company of the 20th century. They are also responsible for growing 90 percent of the world 's GMO’s. On Monsanto’s website it states their goal is to help farmers around the world to produce healthier foods, conserving more, and better animal feeds while reducing impact on our environment. Monsanto 's GMO has been effecting our environment for years but have not yet brought to justice according to this video. The question is why? According to this documentary Monsanto created many hazardous chemicals for example PCBs, Agent Orange and recombinant
These are only few examples of the many lawsuits that have been filed against Monsanto since its creation in
Challenges facing the Monsanto Company have been many. This company has been engaged in unscrupulous undertakings that have resulted in innumerable lawsuits against the company. In many countries, Monsanto Company’s products continue to be banned while others face law suits on their viability and safety of the public.
...earch Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology sued Monsanto in the Supreme Court of India and Monsanto could not start the commercial sales of its Bt cotton seeds until 2002. And, after the damning report of India’s parliamentary committee on Bt crops in August 2012, the panel of technical experts appointed by the Supreme Court recommended a 10-year moratorium on field trials of all GM food and termination of all ongoing trials of transgenic crops. But it had changed Indian agriculture already. Monsanto’s seed, the destruction of alternatives, the collection of super profits in the form of royalties, and the increasing vulnerability of cultures has created a context for debt, suicides and distress which is driving the farmers’ suicide epidemic in India. This systemic control has been intensified with Bt cotton. That is why most suicides are in the cotton belt.
The advent of genetically engineered glyphosate-resistant crops has not only maintained but has greatly expanded Monsanto’s market share in the realm of agribusiness. Since Roundup-Ready seeds are only resistant to the broad-spectrum herbicide Roundup, Monsanto sells a season’s worth of weed killer along with every Roundup Ready seed sale (Arax and Brokaw, 1997).
With the introduction of the internet being a relatively new phenomenon, the act of cyber espionage is not something that has been properly acknowledged by society. The American Government has done a stand up job of keeping its methods in the shadows and away from the eyes of its people since its documented domestic surveillance began on October 4th, 2001; Twenty three days after the Twin Towers fell President George Bush signed an order to begin a secret domestic eavesdropping operation, an operation which was so sensitive that even many of the country's senior national security officials with the...
Monsanto is a multinational agricultural and agrochemical biotechnology corporation based in America and is the largest producer of genetically engineered seeds. Monsanto argues that using science and newfound research to create genetically modified food is necessary in order to save our world from starvation. Eduardo Blumwald, a professor of cell biology and employee for Monsanto, says that genetically modified food could be “the only viable solution we have for our future” (Ostrander 24) where it is predicted that the temperature and population will soar. Blumwald argues that without genetically engineering food to produce under high temperatures with little water, the world could potentially starve in this predicted future. Yet regardless of “biotech industry promises, none of the GMO traits currently on the market offer increased yield, drought tolerance, enhanced nutrition, or any other consumer benefit” (“GMO Facts”). Instead, Monsanto genetically modifies food to resist RoundUp, a pesticide the company has created to kill any plants or bugs other than the genetically engineered crop. According to the World Health Organization, this pesticide “is a probable human carcinogen” (“GMOs”) due to glyphosate, a
Whether the U.S. government should strongly keep monitoring U.S. citizens or not still is a long and fierce dispute. Recently, the debate became more brutal when technology, an indispensable tool for modern live, has been used by the law enforcement and national security officials to spy into American people’s domestic.
Kruft, David. “Impacts Of Genetically-Modified Crops and Seeds on Farmers”. The Agricultural Law Resource and Reference Center. The Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University, Nov. 2001. Web. 29 Apr. 2014
The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier by Bruce Sterling is a book that focuses on the events that occurred on and led up to the AT&T long-distance telephone switching system crashing on January 15, 1990. Not only was this event rare and unheard of it took place in a time when few people knew what was exactly going on and how to fix the problem. There were a lot of controversies about the events that led up to this event and the events that followed because not only did it happen on Martin Luther King Day, but few knew what the situation truly entailed. There was fear, skepticism, disbelief and worry surrounding the people that were involved and all of the issues that it incorporated. After these events took place the police began to crackdown on the law enforcement on hackers and other computer based law breakers. The story of the Hacker Crackdown is technological, sub cultural, criminal, and legal. There were many raids that took place and it became a symbolic debate between fighting serious computer crime and protecting the civil liberties of those involved.
Ever since day one, people have been developing and creating all sorts of new methods and machines to help better everyday life in one way or another. Who can forget the invention of the ever-wondrous telephone? And we can’t forget how innovative and life-changing computers have been. However, while all machines have their positive uses, there can also be many negatives depending on how one uses said machines, wiretapping in on phone conversations, using spyware to quietly survey every keystroke and click one makes, and many other methods of unwanted snooping have arisen. As a result, laws have been made to make sure these negative uses are not taken advantage of by anyone.
"Monsanto uses patent law to control most of U.S. corn, soy seed market." Cleveland National News. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2009. .
However, government agencies, especially in America, continue to lobby for increased surveillance capabilities, particularly as technologies change and move in the direction of social media. Communications surveillance has extended to Internet and digital communications. law enforcement agencies, like the NSA, have required internet providers and telecommunications companies to monitor users’ traffic. Many of these activities are performed under ambiguous legal basis and remain unknown to the general public, although the media’s recent preoccupation with these surveillance and privacy issues is a setting a trending agenda.
People want the freedom and empowerment to use technology, while being protected against malicious actions. Protection starts with awareness and education, the government needs to begin empirical goals around previous campaign successes. President Obama noted, “The government is bringing about unprecedented transparency and liability for Americans to take part in their democracy.” (Obama, 2009).