Monsanto has become the world leader in genetic engineering of seeds, winning 674 biotechnology patents, which is more than any other company. If you are a farmer who buys its Roundup Ready seeds, you are required to sign an agreement promising not to save the seed produced after each harvest for re-planting. You are also prohibited from selling the seed to other farmers. In short, you must buy new seeds every year.
Monsanto is your typical long-standing super corporation: Incredibly intelligent, incredibly rich, and incredibly fucked. One of their most notorious product creations was a chemical by the name of ‘Agent Orange’, which was used for chemical warfare in Vietnam—killing and disfiguring what is estimated to be millions of Vietnamese people.
For thousands of years, farmers have saved seeds from one farming season to another. But when Monsanto developed genetically modified (GM) seeds that would resist its own herbicide, the glyphosate-based Roundup, it patented the seeds.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office, for practically all of its history, refused to grant patents on seeds, viewing them as life forms with too many variables to be patented. However, in 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed for seed patents in a 5-4 decision. This laid the groundwork for plenty of corporations to start gaining control of global food supply.
The patenting of seeds is only one of the different ways that Monsanto affects food, farming, and your future health. This episode will take a look at how Monsanto is basically ruining not only the way that farmers farm, but also the way it is slowly destroying our chances of having a healthy diet.
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