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Case Assignment 1: Monsanto Attempts to Balance Stakeholder Interests

Shannon Merchent

School of Business, Liberty University

BUSI 472: Organizational Ethics

Dr. Beverlin M. Hammett

June 8, 2020
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Case Assignment 1: Monsanto Attempts to Balance Stakeholder Interests

“The Monsanto Company is the world’s largest seed company, with sales of over $15.9

billion” (Ferrell et al., 2017). Founded by John F. Queeny in 1901, Monsanto became a

genetically modified seed company in the early 1970’s, launching them into one of the top

producers in the world (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2017). Today, Monsanto specializes in

using biotechnology to produce genetically modified seeds that can survive droughts, kill bugs,

and keep weeds at bay. By doing this, the company is aiming to help farmers increase their crop

yields and drastically reducing the use of pesticides.

As Christians, we are taught to live a life that is Godly. We are taught to live, respect,

care, and nurture our neighbors and the earth. For example, Genesis 1:26 says, “The God said,

“Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea

and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures

that move along the ground” (New International Version). We are to care for the earth and all the

things that inhabit it, never to harm but, to care for. Romans 13:9 also says, “The

commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’

You shall not covet,’ and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one

command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (NIV). These verses show how we are called upon

as God’s children to take care of his creation and all who inhabit it and to love others as you do

yourself. Monsanto has taken for granted these callings because of the numerous ethical

dilemmas that the company has brought upon itself. The company needs to remember, without

God, there would not be “The Monsanto Company’, there would not be any of it because God

gives us the gifts of intelligence and perseverance.

Efficacy of Monsanto’s Ethical Culture

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When it comes to business ethics and ethical culture, it is the moral responsibility for the

company itself to maintain. Unfortunately, Monsanto has let down their shareholders numerous

times. Time and time again, Monsanto seems to throw ethics to the wind and

The first ethical dilemma that Monsanto faced was the acquisition of the Swann

Chemical Company in 1935. Before the acquisition, Swann had started producing

polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which has been proven to cause chloracne, a serious skin

condition, and liver abnormalities (Markowitz & Rosner, 2018). Monsanto understood that

Swann was producing the PCBs and they would be used in a variety of different products that

would be introduced into the environment. This caused the snowball effect of the numerous

ethical dilemmas that Monsanto has played a part in.

The next huge ethical dilemma Monsanto was involved was the production of the

chemical Agent Orange in the 1970s. This resulted in a major lawsuit. It was found that one of

the chemicals in Agent Orange, named dioxin, was found to be extremely carcinogenic and

caused harmful side effects for hundreds of American veterans (Ferrell et al., 2017).

Thirdly, the production of the genetically modified seed has caused Monsanto to receive

backlash for the fact that conventional seeds could be contaminated by GM seeds, it has not been

proved whether some of the seeds could harm humans and, because a good majority of foods that

are produced using GMOs are not required to have labeling indicating as such (Haslberger,

2001). Overall, the production of these seeds has caused a lot of concern on whether they are

really helping food production or just hurting the environment even more.

Lastly, the most recent ethical dilemma that Monsanto is facing is their Round-Up weed

killer, containing glyphosate, is causing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and several other cancers as

well. This dilemma has also resulted in a major lawsuit which is still being pursued in 2020.
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Unfortunately, Monsanto has historically not maintained an ethical culture that

effectively responds to various stakeholders. There have been more questionable ethics that

Monsanto has participated in than ones that are proper for big business. To effectively respond to

the various stakeholders, Monsanto would have needed to build a strong business model that

respected the government and the environment from the very beginning. Time and time again

Monsanto has proven to its stakeholders that it has not respect for either.

Costs and Benefits of Growing GMO Seed

The Monsanto Company is known for having their critics and since the production of genetically

modified seeds, they have even been accused of trying to take over the world’s food supply and

diminish the biodiversity (Ferrell et al., 2017). While there are critics and some negative

consequences, there are some benefits of growing GM seeds. The benefits of Gm seeds can be

categorized into 3 different areas, economic, environmental, and health (Smyth, 2017).

First, the economic benefit that GM seeds has produced for not only the United States but

globally is extremely significant. According to Graham Brookes and Peter Barfoot, the economic

benefits of GM seeds continues to be significant at the farming level, amounting to $17.7 billion

in 2014 and $150.3 billion for the 19-year period of 1996-2014 (Brookes & Barfoot, 2016).

These significant numbers have helped farmers all over the globe stay afloat much better than

traditional farming methods.

Secondly, the environmental benefits from GM seeds are rooted in the used of weed

control chemicals. “When comparing chemical applications between GM canola and the

alternate scenario where GM canola had not been commercialized, the authors found the total

volume of chemicals applied to canola dropped by 1.3 million kg/year” (Smyth, 2017). This

significant drop in the use of pesticides and herbicides is greatly helping the environment.
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Humans are not ingesting these chemicals as much as before and now are not contaminating the

ground water near these farms. Unfortunately though, with the decreased use of

pesticides/herbicides and increasing the use of GM seeds, it seems that there is the high

possibility that the bacteria that has been easily killed off, can and will start to mutate and start to

resist the chemicals used. That is a risk that is believed that farmers will take, especially if the

crops can yield higher than traditional methods.

Lastly, the health benefits that GM seeds are remarkable. Pesticide poisoning has

reduced, and farmer suicides have decreased just to name a few (Smyth, 2017). GM seeds are

also claimed to be more nutritious. The latter though is the possibility of humans developing

allergies to these GM crops that were not present in the traditional seeds. The possibility of

allergies could be detrimental to certain GM seed categories and then become obsolete or must

be completely revamped. Overall, there is significant data that suggests that GM seeds are

especially beneficial to farmers because of the guarantee of financial gain from their hard work

instead of struggling to make ends meet.

Management of Harm to Plants and Animals

Monsanto needs to manage the potential harm from plants and animals while using

products like Round-Up. As the company proceeds to grow larger and society moves towards a

“greener” lifestyle, Monsanto is going to have to fight to keep their products in farmers hands.

With this ever-growing problem, at least for Monsanto, the effects of the chemicals that they

create and use for production of food and the protocols implemented will need constant

reevaluation to ensure safety (Tsatsakis, Nawaz, Tutelyan, Golokhvast, Kalantzi, Chung, Kang,

Coleman, Tyshko, Chung, & Yang, 2017).

Another potential harm that Monsanto should manage would be changing its advertising
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for glyphosate-based products (Roundup) because of how misleading they can be. Their

advertisements claim that these products do not cause harm to humans or the environment. The

ads also imply that risks are associated with the active ingredient, glyphosate but, do not taken

into any account for any risks that maybe lingering with other ingredients (Ferrell et al., 2017).

Overall, the best way to make sure that plant and animal life are protected from Roundup it to

halt production completely. With the pending lawsuit of it causing cancer in humans, having

more risks than are public, and how easily it can harm animals, Monsanto should stick to GM

seeds. Stopping production would be the best way to manage the potential harm.

Conclusion

In summary, Monsanto has not maintained an ethical culture that has effectively

responded to various stakeholders. With numerous ethical dilemmas, lawsuits, and the like,

Monsanto has not given its stakeholders much to have faith in. The benefits of growing GM by

far outweighs the harms because of the quantity that can be produced. This is especially

important with the ever-increasing population size. There is going to need to be a way to feed

everyone safely and effectively. Lastly, with the potential harm that products like Roundup can

cause to plants and animals, Monsanto needs to ensure their products are not only being

constantly reevaluated but also engineering new products to try and rid the earth of pesticides

and herbicides. This will ensure that humans, the environment, and everything in between are

being thought of first instead of profits.

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References

Brookes, G., & Barfoot, P. (2016). Global income and production impacts of using GM crop

technology 1996–2014. GM Crops Food, 7(1), 38-77.

https://doi.org/10.1080/21645698.2016.1176817

Ferrell, O., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2017). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and

Cases (11th ed., pp. Case 1, 1-1). Cengage Learning.

Haslberger, A. (2001). GMO Contamination of Seeds. Nature Biotechnology, 19(7), 1.

https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1038/90201

Markowitz, G., & Rosner, D. (2018). Monsanto, PCBs, and the creation of a "world-wide

ecological problem". Journal of Public Health Policy, 39(4), 463-466.

https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-018-0146-8

Smyth, S. (2017). Genetically modified crops, regulatory delays, and international trade. Food

and Energy Security, 6(2), 78-86. https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.100

Tsatsakis, A., Nawaz, M., Tutelyan, V., Golokhvast, K., Kalantzi, O., & Chung, D., Kang, S.,

Coleman M., Tyshko, N., Chung, G., & Yang, S. (2017). Impact on environment,

ecosystem, diversity, and health from culturing and using GMOs as feed and food. Food

and Chemical Toxicology, 107, 108-121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2017.06.033