The Pros And Cons Of Monsanto

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Monsanto is an agricultural organisation which specialises in biotechnology and genetically modifying organisms such as plant seeds. It was the first company to genetically modify a plant cell with the aim of creating better, stronger breeds of crops and plants in order to make agriculture more productive, efficient and overall sustainable which is vital for poorer countries and the population of the world as it is growing at a rapid rate. The Food and Agriculture organisation of the UN states that if the global population reaches 9.1 billion by 2050 then food production will need to rise by 70%, and production in the developing world will have to double. [https://www.populationinstitute.org/resources/populationonline/issue/1/8/] (Online) (accessed 12 May 2014). However, genetically modifying organisms seem to be very controversial as there are many people who believe that GMOs are unethical and are a health risk to people and the environment. Monsanto have developed many different varieties of sustainable seeds by genetically modifying them in order to give them specific characteristics. Some of these are making them resistant to pesticides growing bigger, etc. This can benefit farmers greatly as it can help feed animals and have higher yields of crops by overcoming common problems that would hold them back especially in poorer countries where bad yields or not enough rainfall can devastate people and lead to famines such as in West Africa, in 2012 where insect infestation and general bad yield meant 18 million people were facing starvation. [http://www.oxfam.org/en/emergencies] (Online) (accessed 12 May). The environment also benefits in a number of ways with GMOs, agriculture accounts for 80% of deforestation around the world;... ... middle of paper ... ...ing crops can be considered as a subtle but effective way of protesting against GMO as it attempts to make GMOs extinct. Overall Monsanto is a huge organisation whose aims are to create sustainable agriculture in order to ease the problem of a growing population and poverty stricken areas. However GMO crops and plants used for animal and human consumption remains very controversial. Many organisations campaign against companies such as Monsanto who create and sell GMO and instead encourage people to eat organic pesticide free food and talk about the danger to health by consuming GMO foods. However when talking about ethics it can be argued that it is better to provide a GMO crop to which can resist droughts and pests instead of allowing people to go hungry when an infestation or droughts affects poor area that could result in people going hungry and famine.

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