Pesticide and GMO Corporations
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The "Big 6" pesticide and GMO corporations are BASF, Bayer, Dupont, Dow Chemical Company, Monsanto, and Syngenta. They are so called because they dominate the agricultural input market -- that is, they own the world’s seed, pesticide and biotechnology industries.
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), corporate concentration of the agricultural input market "has far-reaching implications for global food security, as the privatization and patenting of agricultural innovation (gene traits, transformation technologies and seed germplasm) has been supplanting traditional agricultural understandings of seed, farmers' rights, and breeders' rights - Source When just six corporations dominate the world’s seed, pesticide and biotech industries, they control the fate of food and farming. Between them, the "Big 6" — Monsanto, Dow, BASF, Bayer, Syngenta and DuPont — have historically unprecedented power over world agriculture, enabling them to control the agricultural research agenda, heavily influence trade and agricultural agreements and subvert market competition. Along the way, the Big 6 intimidate, impoverish and disempower farmers, and undermine food security, all while making historic profits — even as their genetically engineered seeds fail to deliver as promised. Contrary to what Big 6 marketing campaigns say, these corporations are in the game of expanding their marketshare. Period. |
Humans have been farming for 10,000 years. It was just about 60 years ago that we started industrializing agriculture in the U.S. and around the world. After World War II, chemical companies needed a market for wartime inventions and pesticides were put to work in the fields. In the decades that followed, trade and development policy — coupled with savvy marketing by chemical companies — effectively developed an entire model of industrial agriculture.
Today, pesticides touch every aspect of our lives, from residues on our produce to increased chronic disease to biodiversity loss. It's time for a dramatic shift in our food and farming system.
Industrial agriculture treats the farm as a factory, with "inputs" (pesticides, fertilizers) and "outputs" (crops). The end-objective is increasing yields while controlling costs — usually by exploiting economies of scale (i.e. "monocropping"), and by replacing solar energy and manual labor with machines and petro-chemical inputs.
Take soil fumigation, for example. High volumes of volatile pesticides are injected into the soil before planting, disrupting the complex biological ecosystem of the soil that supports plant growth. More chemical inputs are then required to replace these biological supports — deepening dependence on chemical inputs.
Today, pesticides touch every aspect of our lives, from residues on our produce to increased chronic disease to biodiversity loss. It's time for a dramatic shift in our food and farming system.
Industrial agriculture treats the farm as a factory, with "inputs" (pesticides, fertilizers) and "outputs" (crops). The end-objective is increasing yields while controlling costs — usually by exploiting economies of scale (i.e. "monocropping"), and by replacing solar energy and manual labor with machines and petro-chemical inputs.
Take soil fumigation, for example. High volumes of volatile pesticides are injected into the soil before planting, disrupting the complex biological ecosystem of the soil that supports plant growth. More chemical inputs are then required to replace these biological supports — deepening dependence on chemical inputs.
For decades, conventional farmers have been trapped on a “pesticide treadmill.” When persistent organochlorine pesticides like DDT were phased out for their health and environmental harms, a new fast-acting generation of organophosphates were phased in. And the pattern continues.
With the introduction of genetically engineered (GE) crops, the pesticide treadmill has shifted into high gear. Patented GE seeds are designed for use with specific pesticides, leading to increased use of these chemicals. And widespread application of these pesticides leads to the emergence of herbicide-resistant “superweeds,” among other things. Industry’s latest answer to this problem? More GE seeds, engineered to be used with even more drift-prone and dangerous chemicals.
With the introduction of genetically engineered (GE) crops, the pesticide treadmill has shifted into high gear. Patented GE seeds are designed for use with specific pesticides, leading to increased use of these chemicals. And widespread application of these pesticides leads to the emergence of herbicide-resistant “superweeds,” among other things. Industry’s latest answer to this problem? More GE seeds, engineered to be used with even more drift-prone and dangerous chemicals.
Since the mass introduction of pesticides into food and agriculture following WWII, control over the knowledge needed to grow food has been shifting from farmers to the laboratories financed by multinational corporations.
As a result, scientific research that serves corporate interests, rather than the public good, has become the norm. The importance of science for the public good is difficult to overstate — especially when it comes to feeding our world.
As a result, scientific research that serves corporate interests, rather than the public good, has become the norm. The importance of science for the public good is difficult to overstate — especially when it comes to feeding our world.
Pushing the pesticide agenda
Instead of asking, “How can we efficiently grow the most nutritious tomato in a sustainable way?” corporations ask, “How can we genetically modify a crop that tolerates large doses of pesticide product?”
And then, the “Big 6” biotech and pesticide corporations — Monsanto, Dow, DuPont, Bayer, BASF and Syngenta — conduct focused, well-financed research, lobby decisionmakers and launch PR efforts to ensure that these products come to market — regardless of their efficacy or safety.
Instead of asking, “How can we efficiently grow the most nutritious tomato in a sustainable way?” corporations ask, “How can we genetically modify a crop that tolerates large doses of pesticide product?”
And then, the “Big 6” biotech and pesticide corporations — Monsanto, Dow, DuPont, Bayer, BASF and Syngenta — conduct focused, well-financed research, lobby decisionmakers and launch PR efforts to ensure that these products come to market — regardless of their efficacy or safety.
High stakes
The pesticide treadmill wreaks havoc on farmer livelihoods in several ways, from the expense of patented GE seed (and the accompanying chemicals) to the cost of managing superweeds in the fields to the constant risk of seed patent lawsuits.
Many herbicides also drift from where they’re applied to harm neighboring, non-GE crops. Broadleaf plants like tomatoes and grapes, in particular, are susceptible to damage from 2,4-D.
These drift-prone chemicals are often linked to health harms. The World Health Organization recently completed an assessment of independent studies and determined that glyphosate is a “probable human carcinogen.” And 2,4-D — the herbicide mixed with glyphosate in Dow’s recently approved “Enlist Duo” formulation — is a suspected endocrine disruptor that has been linked to cancer and reproductive harm. Children are particularly susceptible to its effects.
The pesticide treadmill wreaks havoc on farmer livelihoods in several ways, from the expense of patented GE seed (and the accompanying chemicals) to the cost of managing superweeds in the fields to the constant risk of seed patent lawsuits.
Many herbicides also drift from where they’re applied to harm neighboring, non-GE crops. Broadleaf plants like tomatoes and grapes, in particular, are susceptible to damage from 2,4-D.
These drift-prone chemicals are often linked to health harms. The World Health Organization recently completed an assessment of independent studies and determined that glyphosate is a “probable human carcinogen.” And 2,4-D — the herbicide mixed with glyphosate in Dow’s recently approved “Enlist Duo” formulation — is a suspected endocrine disruptor that has been linked to cancer and reproductive harm. Children are particularly susceptible to its effects.
Lobby pressure
In 2014, the agricultural input industry alone spent $30 million on lobbying. Monsanto and Biotechnology Industry Organization spent over $12 million combined. Public concern about and opposition to pesticides and GE crops has grown tremendously in recent years — and the Big 6 have taken note.
Monsanto & Co. have doubled down on their PR campaigns in an attempt to control the public narrative around food and farming. According to analysis from the Center for Public Integrity, agricultural industry trade groups are now “putting far more money into advertising and public relations than lobbying.”
In 2014, the agricultural input industry alone spent $30 million on lobbying. Monsanto and Biotechnology Industry Organization spent over $12 million combined. Public concern about and opposition to pesticides and GE crops has grown tremendously in recent years — and the Big 6 have taken note.
Monsanto & Co. have doubled down on their PR campaigns in an attempt to control the public narrative around food and farming. According to analysis from the Center for Public Integrity, agricultural industry trade groups are now “putting far more money into advertising and public relations than lobbying.”
As reported by Friends of the Earth in Spinning Food, 14 of the most significant food and agriculture front groups spent roughly $126 million from 2009 to 2013 on a “range of tactics designed to shape what the public and policymakers think about food, health and sustainability.” - Source