In his article, Mike Adams states that by examining the virtue of Monsanto he can conclude that the corporation is evil. He believes that we should expect corporations to act with a sense of common human decency and that they should behave like decent human beings (whatever that means). Adams goes on to assert that in their quest for profit maximization that they violate these tenets. He claims that their business model is set up to trap farmers in a system of economic dependence; that they will never be able to return to a traditional farming system. Questioning the health and safety associated with the consumption of these products, Adams cites a study showing that 70% of female rats die prematurely from cancerous tumors when fed GMOs. Monsanto’s spending to defeat Proposition 37 in California (a bill that would require the labeling of GMO products on food labels) shows that they and other companies do not want consumers to know about the GMOs in their food products. Adams also highlights that Monsanto does not create this technology to share with farmers and to help the world; he feels that by patenting the seeds they are punishing the farmers. He argues that the use of GM crops is destroying the environment. His last point is that we need a revolution against the power that corporations have over our lives.
While Adams’ article is clearly biased against Monsanto and the use of GM foods, he does make several important insights into certain aspects of their operations. The power of corporations over governmental policy is obvious in the United States. It is tough to say that corporations owe it to people to act virtuously in my opinion. Their first priority is to make profits and if that means that they patent the seeds and take advantage of farmers in less than ideal situations how much can really be done about it? More information is clearly needed on both sides and while these corporations have the money and the political clout to dictate policy the truth about them will be hard to determine.
http://www.naturalnews.com/037289_monsanto_corporations_ethics.html
