Brewer 1

Laura Brewer

Professor Dean Leonard

English 1201

8 September 2019

Research Proposal: Are Monsanto’s Innovations Feeding the World or Poisoning the World?

The first time I ever heard of the company called Monsanto was several years ago when my

daughter asked me to watch a documentary film with her. The film was called Food, Inc. and it

explored how meat, dairy and produce industries are consumed by just a few large corporations

and the huge impact that this had on farms, groceries, and the restaurants where we eat. Prior to

watching this, I hadn’t even thought much about where our food came from. I was seriously

shocked by what I learned just through this film.

The film takes you behind the scenes at a factory farm where cows would be standing ankle deep

in manure so that if one had e-coli, others could get it, too. After some people became sick and

died with e-coli, some changes were made. They began the process of “cleansing” the meat by

dousing it with ammonia to kill the e-coli. So, most of the traditional meat we buy at the store

would be “seasoned” with ammonia. Chickens were also pumped up with so many growth

hormones that they were so huge they could barely take two steps without falling. Hundreds of

chickens were crammed in dark storehouses, many of which were very ill. They would all go to

the slaughterhouse without being checked for illness or diseases.

The film then went on to talk about the company Monsanto. Monsanto is an agricultural,

biotechnology, and chemical corporation based in the U.S. They produced DDT, and Agent

Orange in Vietnam, and rBGH, the growth hormone that many animals were given to make them
 Brewer 2

grow much larger. They are the leading producer of Roundup®, a weed killer with the active

ingredient called glyphosate. Monsanto also began genetically engineering soybeans that were

able to resist the roundup they created. They could spray roundup right on it and it would kill all

the weeds, but not the soybeans. Monsanto was able to get a patent on the seed itself. Following

this, farmers who use to be able to save their best seeds for next year’s crop were no longer

allowed to save their own seeds. If they got caught doing it, they could get sued. Hearing

different farmers stories was so disheartening. Some of them lost so much in legal fees and were

forced to quit altogether. The film touched a lot on this and on how that legally Monsanto has

been able to gain more control because they have legislatures backing them. Since this movie is

now about 10 years old, I am really interested in learning more about how the industry has

evolved since then and what Monsanto has been up to.

I feel like there is so much we should be made aware of about our food choices and food

labeling. Most of us know so little about Monsanto and their practices and how it now affects us

daily. Just from watching the film, I think that Monsanto has been a very deceptive and ruthless

company who seems to only care about profit and growth. I believe that all their sneaky

practices have yet to be uncovered and it sickens me how even those working for our U.S

Government have been protecting them. What I do know about from the movie is that Monsanto

is a huge corporation involved in many areas of food creation with too much power and they

seem to unleash it on anyone who challenges their product or practices.

As I begin to dig deeper into the practices of Monsanto over the years, I am hoping to learn

more about the hidden truths of their operations and the effects this has had on us who consume
 Brewer 3

their products. This awareness can help me make better informed buying choices for me and my

family. I’m sure I will find the answers through case studies, legal, and academic research sites.

As I start researching further into this topic, one question I would like to find is how glyphosate

has affected our health, specifically in our digestive system. My daughter has had a lot of

stomach issues and last year she went to a doctor who has done a lot of research in nutrition over

the years. She told her that part of her digestive troubles could be due to glyphosate buildup.

She has researched a lot about it and told my daughter to always choose organic and foods that

are not processed whenever possible, to minimize her glyphosate exposure. After her doctor told

her this, I briefly looked up if there were ways to detox glyphosate from the body. Of course,

there were loads of information on it. So, I would like to also find out if there are any clinical

trials and studies that have shown proven ways to detox the body of glyphosate.