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Monsanto: Seed Monopoly And Control Of The Global Food Industry

1362 Words6 Pages

Monsanto has introduced a wise alternative of planting crops to farmers with its products, known as transgenic seeds and herbicide Roundup. At first, the company states that the biotech seeds will help farmers save time to kill insects and save money to pay for insecticides (“Monsanto,” 2015). However, the statements become contradictory when the company increases the price of soybean seeds by 24% (Baird, 2015), causing farmers to pay more, as they were prohibited to save GM seeds due to the 101 utility patents (Smith, 2010). The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate three ways in which Monsanto leaves negative impacts on farmers, food consumers, and the human health. This paper will focus on seed monopoly, control of the global food supply, …show more content…

According to the GM Freeze, in Argentina, people who live in areas of intensive GM cultivation and associated with herbicide, are twice as likely to die of cancer (Baird, 2015). Furthermore, the side effects of Roundup also include DNA disruption, liver and kidney damage (Robin, 2010). Another problem is from the ingredients in processed food that contains genetically modified organism. For example, fructose, a sweetener usually derived from corn starch, is one of the most found GM ingredients in processed food and soft drink (Goldbas, 2014). Fructose has dramatically increased in food consumption for the past thirty years (Port, 2012). Regarding the digestion and absorption, fructose differs from glucose because it does not stimulate insulin secretion or enhance leptin production. The key of insulin and leptin is to signal the regulation of food intake and body weight, which help to control appetite. The study has been confirmed that fructose is the contributing factor of obesity (Charrez et al., 2015). In addition, fructose intake is associated with the increased risk of pancreatic and intestinal cancers (Port, 2012). According to Spaeth, “If you are not trying to avoid GM foods, you are probably eating them every day” (2012). Currently, fructose has constituted more than 40% of sweetener consumption (Charrez et al.,

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