| Case Study 1 | The Monsanto Company |

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The Monsanto, founded by John F. Queeny, is a company that genetically alters plants in order for them to fight off weeds, infectious insects, and other natural items in the environment that would cause crops not to grow or harvest. The Monsanto Company began in 1901 in St. Louis, Missouri. Today it is the largest seed company, not only within the United States, but it is the largest company in the world. Many people want to know if Monsanto maintains an ethical culture that can effectively respond to various stakeholders. The company has done many things to try and help not only farmers and their crops but to help the economy with these genetically altered plants. Although this may be true, in the year 2000 the company was said to be covering up environmental pollution. The company was said to be dumping toxic wastes into a creek, and into a landfill. This was clearly not helpful for the environment or for people that were living near these areas. This led to a second lawsuit against the company, and another lump sum settlement by the company. Toxic waste is no longer a known issue with the company, and not a current concern. Once the company decided to focus on the production of biotechnical crops, environmentalists became very concerned. The idea of “biotech crops” was said to be unnatural and were seen as the company trying to “play God.” The company has had some bad mix-ups and some good mix-ups. For example, since the company’s settlement in concern with dumping toxic waste Monsanto has done all they can to ensure that they do not harm the environment in any way. As a result of the company being global, Monsanto gives back to the community, or the world. The company donates to funds to help little children and also help with science centers around the world.
The Monsanto Company began to stray away from chemical products and became greatly involved in biotechnology, this new interest led to GM seed for crops. These seeds have greatly affected agriculture both in a positive way and in a negative way. The company found a way to produce plants that would kill harmful bugs themselves, this saved time and money for farmers. In addition to this they created seeds containing chemicals that can kill weed; this seed could kill weeds and not harm itself. Seeds for dry areas of the world such as Africa have been made to ensure that the drought weather of the region would not affect the crops. Another good thing is the company holds tours to allow farmers to see how the seeds are tested; also Monsanto uses this method to show the farmers that they are being sold the best crops that they can get. The crops are tested to see how well they will grow; the crops that grow well are the crops that get sold to the farmers. Although all of these factors are good for the company, people and the environment there are still some negatives with concern of the GM seeds. Many people are concerned that the chemicals to kill insects that are harmful to the crops can also negatively affect the insects that are helpful to our environment. Pollination is a major part of the environment and it helps our world to thrive without certain insects to help with this process we could lose a lot of our plants which provide the environment necessary for human beings to live and function. Another major concern of GM plants was the effect on humans. Many people wondered and still do wonder if genetically altering plants, or the foods we eat, can have a negative or positive effect on humans. As a result of this Monsanto changed the focus of plants that GM seeds were