Monsanto Under the Microscope
Posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
In 2010 the U.S. Department of Justice will once again put Monsanto under the microscope. In the wake of an antitrust suit brought against the agribusiness giant by its largest competitor, DuPont, the Justice Department has opened an investigation into the company’s aggressive practices in the biotech arena. The Justice and Agriculture Departments have also announced that they will jointly hold five hearings to address monopoly and competition in the agriculture industry later this year. Will investigators and justice officials finally hold Monsanto accountable for decades of illegal activity?
Monsanto’s well-documented offenses include: its development of the toxic herbicide Agent Orange which has caused innumerable health complications in Americans and Vietnamese exposed to it during the Vietnam War; its sale of recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), a product with health side effects the company has repeatedly tried to cover up; and, most abhorrently, its domination of global food production through mergers and acquisitions, myopic implementation of biotechnology, genetic patenting, and blatant disregard for small and subsistence farmers. Monsanto calls itself “fair, pro-competitive and in compliance with the law,” when at the same time it forces open markets in developing nations under the guise of charity, suppresses critical research on the environmental impacts of its products, and works to eradicate crop varieties for which it holds no patents. Such behavior not only defies federal law, but also poses major threats to global food security and agricultural biodiversity.
The Obama administration has promised to be tougher than its predecessor in tackling monopolies. Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, even said last year that “vigorous antitrust enforcement must play a significant role in the government’s response to economic downturns to assure markets remain competitive.” The Justice Department’s investigation of Monsanto may signal that this is one promise the Obama administration will keep. America’s ailing economy, not to mention farmers and consumers in every corner of the world would surely benefit from this long overdue enforcement of justice.
i wouldn’t trust the obama administration to do anything correct. Remember it’s the democrats that propped up the UN thus the WTO.
We should take away the idea of PATENTING
I agree. And now they want to concuss the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, to put a temporary pressure against an on-going pressure, while cracking up more of the shell around the on-going pressure! Talk about nuts! Why aren’t they harvesting that huge mother-lode? They could stop a bunch of other drilling projects by just managing this bonanza with some sense.
Republicans are greedy, would never would address the problem of the working poor. That killed them. Democrats are mostly-all nutty in the head!