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In all frankness, due to its past actions, I do not trust Monsanto to fulfill any more obligations it may have to society. First the incident with dioxin, which resulted in a $180 billion-dollar settlement in 1979. Then again in 2003 they paid 700 million dollars because of that fact they were not only dumping PCB waste into a creek in Anniston, Alabama, but also allowed it to go on for forty years! Where was their sense of moral obligation to society during all these decades? Research is indicative that ethical branding, used by many companies, has several factors that must be present, including the conception of the company’s core values, derivation on three levels (organizational, product, and added service value), have moral obligations,
Case Study #1 Case 1: In the past, Monsanto has had many ethical issues like high performance standards that can cause employees to make unethical and illegal decisions and not owning up to hazards around them. However, Monsanto has been striving to enforce their code of ethics and has spent more time trying to become more socially responsible to the environment. For Monsanto to create an ethical culture, he would have to be proactive in anticipating, planning and acting to avoid potential ethical crisis’ (Thorne, Ferrell, & Ferrell, 2008).
Monsanto has been an innovator in the field of agriculture and hydroponics for the past 30 years conducting research that leads to advances in GMO’s while solving countless issues that arise in the field of agriculture. Monsanto sprouted in 1901 with the founder John F. Queeny. It spent its first 45 years as a company researching and developing agricultural chemicals that strengthen the genes of crops to help grow food in the off season. Throughout the years leading up to the 2000’s Monsanto spent its budget researching cell manipulation in order to modify the genes of crops to be more resilient to pests, bad soil, and harsh weather conditions. In 2001 Monsanto developed a pickup truck that runs on E85 a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gas.
Monsanto has created some of the top innovating products for agriculture in the entire world. Monsanto started as a chemical company which would later evolve into a giant seed company. As stated before, Monsanto struggled with criticism over most of their products. During the stage of Monsanto’s chemical productions, the colossal company created Roundup which is a chemical herbicide to fight away insects and other harmful components to plants. Roundup immediately experienced negative feedback from the agricultural specialists.
Food safety is a topic that has been on everyone’s mind since technology has been introduced into the production and distribution of food across the world. It seems though, that even with all the new advancements in technology there are reports that come in about contamination of cheese products, glass found in food packaging or some genetically modified food that has been spurring controversy. It’s funny how in this age of technological advancement in the growth and production of food, people are pushing the move back to organic foods or natural foods. The question that can be posed for the argument for organic food versus GMOs is which one is safer and is every food that is labeled “organic” truthfully advertised? Kinchy illustrates, in
I believe Monsanto acted unethically when they went above and beyond to deceive their customers. The lied about the safety of their product. I know that marketing for a genetically modified seed is hard because a lot of people believe it’s harmful, but Monsanto shouldn’t have claimed that independent researchers support their product and believe it is safe, meanwhile they were editing the reviews and providing the data. They didn’t only cause harm to their customers (through their product), but they also lied and deceived to get more customers. Monsanto should have proved the safety of their product in a different way, or found a way to make the product less toxic and harmful to people.
There are four types of social responsibilities and Monsanto using all of them in their company. These responsibilities can be arranged in a pyramid, with basic responsibilities closer to the bottom. Monsanto's economic responsibilities are making a profit mainly and staying committed to developing the technologies that enable farmers to produce more crops while conserving more of the natural resources that are essential to their success. Monsanto dominates the agricultural biotechnology industry, whose audacious mission is to transform the genetic composition of the world's food supply. More than 80% of the soybeans and cotton harvested in this country now have at least one patented by Monsanto genes (Fortune).
Monsanto’s Unethical Practices Monsanto has faced troubles for years, and they are currently facing millions of dollars in lawsuits. Instead of taking responsibility for the destruction their company has caused Monsanto is doing everything it can not to assume the responsibility. They are breaking their code of ethics policies and other business rules by not taking responsibility. Monsanto’s code of ethics is written based their duties and responsibilities to the environment and its people. In the 1970s they created PCBs which is a very dangerous chemical and has caused people to die.
The operations of Monsanto walk a fine line between pure product focus and moral obligation. Although not as fierce in the United States, world hunger is an enormous feat to overcome and only continues to grow as the world population increases. The core focus and positioning of Monsanto is imperative to its long-term success. The worldwide goal of farming is to produce the largest yield while inflicting the least amount of damage to the environment (Langreth & Herper, 2010).
In business companies have a duty to uphold their social responsibility. Monsanto too is no exception. There are four parts of being socially responsible. The four types of social responsibility are philanthropic, ethical, legal and economic.
When conducting research there are many different types of measurements that businesses use to accurately collect information. Depending on the kind of research a company is doing or the level of intensity of the research; different kinds of measurement scales are needed. The main types of measurement scales are nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. These four levels of measurement research are extremely helpful in organizing new data that researchers come across. The weakest or least in depth measurement style is nominal, leading all the way up to the strongest or most in depth of ratio.
In this geography assignment I will be looking at the company called Monsanto regarding its practices surrounding world food production and how it measures up to ethical standards. A broad definition of ethics is about doing the right thing, that is, to be fair and to be just to people who ever they are and where ever they are. And regarding food people should have a right to access food easily and cheaply and that the food itself is not harmful to their health. After all food is about human survival.
After learning about Monsanto’s past involvement in the dumping of harmful PCBs, a myriad of ethical concerns arise when examining Monsanto’s genetically modified soybeans. A serious issue is whether or not genetically modified crops (GMCs) are safe for human consumption; thus, making it unclear if GMCs are good or bad. This is especially frightening when considering that the FDA is supposed to require changes in food products to “[meet] the criteria of reasonable certainty of no harm, but when you genetically engineer a food which can cause untold differences in that plant, they don’t require anything.” (Robin, 2008, (3)) As a result, Monsanto’s soybeans were allowed on the market despite inadequate testing and served as a complement the “Round Up” herbicide.
Monsanto has several issues that need to be addressed including bribery, legal and patent woes. Not only should these concerns be addressed but there are several stakeholders that must be successfully engaged to keep the company ahead. The best way to balance the conflicting needs of the variety of stakeholder groups is to find the common solution and advancement of technology that can be agreed on. For example, Monsanto has become a major company due to the technology it brings to a traditional way of life. Although the company has questionable intentions, they still have stakeholder groups that agree with some of their operational direction.
The Monsanto Company has not had a perfect story in regards to proper operating procedure and moral fiber. However, the ability to foresee any and all problems of the future is hard for many companies in this type of industry. I do not agree with the current moral and ethical dilemmas Monsanto has created, but there are still some positive products produced from their aggressive organizational behavior. To fulfill moral obligations to society and the environment, Monsanto will need to focus on the possible implications of these experimental procedures.