Abstract
Mark Nelson was still a young farmer in the mid-1990s, figuring out the best tools and tactics for coaxing corn, soybeans, and wheat from the farm fields of northeastern Kansas, when he started hearing about a new type of high-tech seed that would soon be for sale. Other farmers Nelson knew were talking about it. So were university extension agents and seed dealers. It seemed everyone was talking about, and waiting for, these special seeds that had been transformed by alterations to their DNA. Through the magic of technology, scientists at Monsanto Company had found they could insert genetic material from a strain of Agrobacterium into the chromosome of the soybean, transforming the bean into a crop that could withstand being sprayed with Monsanto’s Roundup and still continue to grow and flourish. The company then planted and studied the altered soybean seeds in locations around the United States and in Puerto Rico, Argentina, and Costa Rica through 1991 and 1992, developing a wide range of soybean varieties to commercialize.
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Notes
- 1.
Monsanto Company, “Petition for Determination of Nonregulated Status: Soybeans with a Roundup Ready Gene,” September 14, 1993, p. 29, https://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/aphisdocs/93_25801p.pdf.
- 2.
Mark Nelson, in conversation with the author, July 26, 2016.
- 3.
Monsanto Company, “Petition for Determination of Nonregulated Status: Soybeans with a Roundup Ready Gene,” September 14, 1993, p. 2, https://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/aphisdocs/93_25801p.pdf.
- 4.
Ibid.
- 5.
Ibid.
- 6.
Monsanto Company, “Selected Financial Data,” fiscal year 2000, p. 24, http://www.monsanto.com/investors/pages/sec_html.aspx?xid=1361529&vid=aHR0cDovL2FwaS50ZW5rd2l6YXJkLmNvbS9maWxpbmcueG1sP2lwYWdlPTEzNjE1MjkmRFNFUT0xMiZTRVE9JlNRREVTQz1TRUNUSU9OX0VYSElCSVQmZXhwPSZzdWJzaWQ9NTc=&compId=122069.
- 7.
Monsanto Company, “2001 Annual Report,” p. 32, http://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReportArchive/m/NYSE_MON_2001.pdf.
- 8.
Texas Grain Storage, Inc. v. Monsanto Company, Case No. 5:07-cv-00673-OLG-PMA in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, filed August 10, 2007.
- 9.
Christopher Leonard, “Monsanto Uses Patent Law to Control Most of U.S. Corn, Soy Seed Market,” Associated Press, December 16, 2009, http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2009/12/monsanto_uses_patent_law_to_co.html.
- 10.
U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Genetically Engineered Crops: Agencies Are Proposing Changes to Improve Oversight, but Could Take Additional Steps to Enhance Coordination and Monitoring; Highlights,” GAO-09-60, November 5, 2008, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-60.
- 11.
Supreme Court of the United States, Monsanto Co. et al. v. Geertson Seed Farms et al., decided June 21, 2010, https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/09-475.pdf.
- 12.
Supreme Court of the United States, dissent by Justice J. Stevens in Monsanto Co. et al. v. Geertson Seed Farms et al., p. 20, https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/09-475.pdf.
- 13.
Center for Food Safety, et al. v. Thomas J. Vilsack and Monsanto Company, et al., Case No. 10-17719 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, http://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/ca9/10-17719/10-17719-2011-03-10.pdf?ts=1411052867.
- 14.
Ruling in Center for Food Safety, et al. v. Thomas Vilsack, et al., Case No. C-08-00484 JSW in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-pJR4cGo9ckTDlSVU1nMDJ0dTg/view?usp=sharing.
- 15.
Tadlock Cowan and Kristina Alexander, “Deregulating Genetically Engineered Alfalfa and Sugar Beets: Legal and Administrative Responses,” Congressional Research Service, September 10, 2012, https://www.agri-pulse.com/ext/resources/pdfs/c/r/s/e/t/CRS-GE-Alfalfa-Sugarbeet.pdf.
- 16.
Erika Engelhaupt, “Government Pesticide and Fertilizer Data Dropped,” Environmental Science & Technology 42, no. 18 (2008): 6779–6780, doi:10.1021/es801937k.
- 17.
Charles Benbrook, in conversation with the author, August 8, 2016.
- 18.
Jef Smidts (Andre & CIE, Antwerp), memorandum titled “Reflections about Bio-Engineered Wheat Possibly Introduced by Monsanto.”
- 19.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, memorandum titled “Updated Screening Level Usage Analysis (SLUA) Report for Glyphosate,” October 22, 2015, https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-pJR4cGo9ckb3k4UDczbVdiT1E/view.
- 20.
Ibid.
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Gillam, C. (2017). The “Roundup Ready” Rollout. In: Whitewash. Island Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-833-6_4
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