Monsanto has spent nearly two billion dollars on agricultural biotechnology in the last two years. Genetically engineered wares include Bollgard cotton, New Leaf potatoes and Yieldgard corn, all of which are designed to be resistant to specific insects. They also include the bovine growth hormone Posilac and the highly publicized Flavr Savr tomato, produced by Calgene, which is part-owned by Monsanto. The corporation is strengthening its position in the market by buying up additional biotechnology companies. These acquisitions may be a means of securing worldwide dominance for its genetically engineered products.
China is the world's second-largest cotton producer.
This process, in the words of Monsanto's Robert Fraley, is 'not just a consolidation of seed companies, it's really a consolidation of the entire food chain'. The beans are designed to be resistant to Monsanto's Roundup, the world's best-selling herbicide, which contributes 15 per cent of the company's total sales and 40 per cent of its operating profit. The company has projected that this figure could increase to as much as 33 per cent in 1997. 3 Monsanto also has the dubious honor of being one of the top US polluters. In 1992 it was responsible for approximately 5 per cent of the 5.7 billion pounds of toxic chemicals which were pumped into the US environment.