Talk:Monsanto
This seems possibly interesting. Do you have any sources for the bits about the GMOs? I'd like to read on and perhaps help expand the article. Aboriginal Noise What the ... 11:44, 1 February 2010 (UTC)
- Could laso be worth putting in some info on the whole Golden Rice scandal. I Pilger did some a few investigative articles on their involvement in this in south and S.E. Asia, IIRC. I had some publications on this, but they are stored over at my parents place. --
12:27, 1 February 2010 (UTC)
GMOs
Fine, got not problem. Corporate whitewashing... yeah, I got a problem with that. ТyTalk. 16:06, 25 March 2011 (UTC)
- I've got a serious problem when somebody turns up on the site and starts changing the view of articles 180 degrees with absolutely no discussion. Changes of scale that Tweenk has been making should be discussed on the talk page. –SuspectedReplicant retire me 16:10, 25 March 2011 (UTC)
Evil Corp.
Did you know that Monsanto had something to do with Agent Orange in Vietnam? This company, no matter what they do, seem to be one of the worst corporate entities in existince. They won't be satisfied until all the vegetables that we have are derived from their freakishly mutated GMO crops, and they also will not be satisfied until they have a monopoly over the food market. They need to be stopped, and fast. User:Lefty
What is scary about Monsanto is that they have a virtual monopoly on corn production. Believe it or not corn is one of the most important recources we have (right up there with oil). It is used in agriculture as feed for livestock, the food industry to make cornstarch (corn by products are in almost every processed food) fertalizers, and evin in the energy industry. The idea of one company having this much power and abusing it so readily is scary--BenB (talk) 15:32, 21 May 2011 (UTC)
Rationale of previous changes
Previously I added some language defending Monsanto, which was automatically regarded as "whitewashing". I think I should clarify my position before someone calls me a "corporate lickspittle" again:
- Of course Monsanto is not the epitome of social responsibility, but neither is it super-evil. It looks like it often gets blamed because it is a convenient scapegoat - nobody likes megacorps. To some extent this resembles the situation with Microsoft, which gets bashed by radical free software advocates and ascribed an ulterior motive even when they do something positive. Terminator technology is a prime example. It would solve the problem with GM traits turning up in places where they are undesirable, exactly the concern voiced by Greenpeace et al, but because of the evil image of Monsanto everyone thought its purpose was to extort farmers in the developing countries (Some really sloppy thinking here: How exactly would this prohibit farmers from continuing to plant their traditional non-GM varieties?), so it was rejected.
- Some people protesting against Monsanto should actually protest against overly broad patent law. I don't like patents in general and I think genes should not be patentable, but blaming a company for using a law to their advantage is misplaced.
- Big controversies, such as the case of Percy Schmeiser who was reportedly sued when his field was "contaminated" with GM seed, are misreported as a struggle of one individual against the oppression of a megacorp, while in reality it was a clever guy who thought he could get away with using patented technology without a license, then made a lot of money from free publicity.
- The dominance of Monsanto is at least partially caused by anti-GMO activists. They have successfully lobbied for absurdly strict requirements for testing of GM crops, bringing imaginary concepts such as "genetic contamination" into law, and spending millions of dollars on absolutely pointless exercises, such as identifying traces of GM crops in products or extensive trials of every variety. As a result, nobody except a handful of multinational corporations are able to bring a GM crop to market.
--Tweenk (talk) 17:09, 29 October 2011 (UTC)
- The "terminator seed" talking point is indeed a staple of anti-GMO sites. There are also the really nutty conspiracy theorists who think Monsanto is part of the New World Order and secretly tainting food with poison and/or mind control substances. Nebuchadnezzar (talk) 19:54, 29 October 2011 (UTC)
Armondikov liked this!
- You should have just reverted them. --85.78.46.20 (talk) 03:06, 30 October 2011 (UTC)