Monsaints

Monsanto Attempts to Balance Stakeholder Interests
Monsanto is a company that has been around since 1901. They have renovated their
company several times throughout the last century to fulfill a need in society. They
have been suppliers for items such as artificial sweeter, saccharine, which was sold to
Coca-Cola, vanilla flavoring, petroleum, fibers, packaging roundup herbicide, Agent
Orange, and biotechnology for genetic manipulation of organisms in seeds. This
company has seen touch times with ethics, environmentally, socially and business.
1. Does Monsanto maintain an ethical culture that can effectively respond to various
stakeholders? Monsanto has let down their shareholders many times ethically. It
started out in the 1970s when they produced Agent Orange (Ferrell, Fraedrich,
Ferrell, 2013). Agent Orange was just their first of many unethical circumstances.
Monsanto does not maintain an ethical culture that can effectively respond to various
stakeholders because to build a strong business you have to maintain your sense of
respect toward the government and the environment. An example of this is when the
FDA had to get involved due to whether or not the seeds that Monsanto was being
produced were safe for the environment.
2. Compare the benefits of growing GM seeds for crops with the potential negative
consequences of using them. The benefits of growing GM seeds for crops is that when
you genetically modify plant seeds you can put herbicides and pesticides in the seeds
to prevent bugs from eating them and weeds overtaking them and therefore killing the
crop. This allows farmers to grow crops more successfully and therefore the farmers
are more profitable. The negative consequences of using GM seeds that are
genetically modified with herbicides and pesticides is the uncertainty of health
consequences of humans consuming the food grown by these seeds. No studies have
been tested and it could be several years before the results are known.
3. How should Monsanto manage the potential harm to plant and animal life from
using products such as roundup? To manage the potential harm to plant and animal
life from using products such as roundup, the government has required farms using
Monsantos GM products to create refuges. Twenty percent of their fields will be
planted with non-genetically modified crops so that bugs from both genetically and
non-genetically crops will mate therefore reducing the chance of building up a
tolerance to roundup.

Monsanto is the largest agricultural company that specializes in both
conventional and genetically modified organism (GMO) seeds and other
products. Overall Monsanto has tried to maintain a good ethical culture to
their different stakeholders. Because even with all the issues the
organization faced, the company has taken the blame and fixed it the best
way possible. For example, when word got out about Monsanto dumping
toxic waste into a creek they took all the blame and agreed that it wasnt
right.
Despite all the ethical issues, Monsanto has publicly made a commitment
to provide full fledged support to famers through delivering technologies
that will amplify the production of crops while conserving resources. They
are also improving the livelihood of farmers and the people who depend on
them. Monsantos goals are attainable through an intricate combination of
biotechnology, advanced plant breeding, and improved farmer
management practices. The agricultural giant also fulfills obligations to their
shareholders by maximizing their profit through the development of more
productive and safer seeds Monsanto can do just that (Gini & Marcoux
2009).
On its website, Monsanto positions itself as a relatively new agricultural
company that aims to help farmers produce healthier food by increasing
productivity, repressing weeds and combating insects while ensuring that
environmental standards are not only met but exceeded, and while
protecting the safety of people and communities. Its leading product is
Roundup, worlds best selling agriculture herbicide for the last thirty years.
Monsanto is also the world leader in biotechnology. There are a lot of
benefits of using GMO seeds such as bigger crops and fewer worries.
Among these, the biggest benefit is bigger crops because of the growing
population. Every year the world population grows and grows. Bigger crops
will help with this growing. Farmers will also have fewer worries about
bugs, weeds, and drought harming their crops (Ferrell et al., 2010).
Despite, the multiple advantages of GMOs, it is imperative to note that 90
percent of GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) crops grown on the
planet belonged to Monsanto. In the light of current crises, the agricultural
company is regarded as the most ethically controversial corporation.
Additionally, Monsanto filed lawsuits against many farmers in Canada and
U.S.A. on the grounds of patent infringement. Farmers claim Monsantos
monopoly controls the seed market and they are forced to buy its seeds.
Moreover, GMO seeds are seen as eliminating the existence of organic
seeds with growing emergence of drastic results of GMO contamination.
Monsanto has been found guilty twice of false advertising in Europe for
labeling its herbicide Roundup as biodegradable whereas it has
extensively campaigned against labeling of its GMO products as
genetically modified. In Monsanto, studies on safety of GMOs have been
constructed on the Principle of Substantial Equivalence and in some
cases, results provide only some reassurance that GMO product is very
similar to the organic one. Farming communities have long protested that
the primary purpose of invention of GMO crops has been to sell pest and
weed control chemicals and not to solve food...

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Monsanto Attempts to Balance Stakeholder Interests

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