Intro
GMO crops are a tricky subject when it comes to examining ethical implications. This
combined with an organization that has had a suspect ethical past, becomes a more complex. Let
us examine the company of Monsanto to see if they are operating in an ethical manor.
Efficacy of Monsanto’s Ethical Culture
The ethics of Monsanto are gray and often unclear. On one hand, we see them helping
provide food to the world and helping crop yield increase; however, there is a trend in the
organization of lack of testing and negligence. Let us first examine the good in Monsanto.
According to the American Society of Plant Biologist, there is a growing need in the
world for food, particularly grains. Monsanto is philanthropic in the programs they take part in.
In Africa and Brazil, they have allowed farmers a more affordable, profitable way to provide
food to countries in need. A positive, in the area of ethics, is that the company has been forthright
in their failures. In 2002 they turned themselves into the authorities for their involvement with
bribing officials in other countries. This shows responsibility in a business. This is particularly
interesting to see a company own up to its own ethical error in a world that slowly on the
economic decline in 2002. The timeliness of this shows the organizations desire to do the right
thing.
However, we see one big ethical dilemma with the company, it is allowing for genetically
altered seeds to be on the dinner table without the proper testing of these foods. The
pharmaceutical drug world would be the first to admit time is a factor in deciding if a drug works
or has negative consequences. You can see cases where it has taken many years for
