Monsanto Changing its Ways

Monsanto’s vegetable seed division is focusing its R&D on producing enhanced versions of vegetables using the same method that Nature does: carefully cross-breeding to promote desired traits. It seems now it’s starting to make cents to go green.

To see the difference between this technique and GMO, read this article, or look at this excerpt:

The Old Way

•  Identify plants with recognizable, desirable traits.
•  Crossbreed those plants together.
•  Grow the offspring.
•  Wait to see if the traits show up. Repeat as necessary.

The Genetic Modification Way

•  Identify plants or other organisms with recognizable, desirable traits.
•  Isolate the genes that manifest those traits.
•  Use enzymes to clip out those genes and paste them into the genomes of other plants, or inject them using a “gene gun” (for real) or by piggybacking them on a bacteria or virus.
•  Grow the plant with the inserted gene. If the gene has successfully incorporated into the plant, you’ll have a novel phenotype.

The New Monsanto Way

•  Identify plants with recognizable, desirable traits.
•  Crossbreed the plants.
•  Sift through the offspring genome for known markers for desirable traits.
•  Grow only the plants with those markers.

And then check out the BigAg monster everyone loves to hate itself: Monsanto Vegetable Seeds Division

This post prepared by William Mitchell College of Law student Maya Missaghi