Question

Did Monsanto violate any ethic standards in developing genetically modified wheat?

Answer 1

Cooley defends the usage of genetically modified organisms on the basis of “precautionary principle”. As per this principle precaution must be appropriate to the risk associated with the GMOs. Cooley argued that the existing definitions of the terms “absolute skepticism” and “reasonable person” are too broad. Cooley proposed a modified standard to identify the reasonable person. He suggested that reasonable person should focus on promoting the overall welfare of persons.

Besides this, he also suggested that alleged harms produced by the GMOs are merely hypothetical. He provided the following benefits of using genetically modified organisms-

GMOs have the capacity to offer several health benefits to the people. For example, it would help in preventions of blindness or infections.

They help in increasing the yields of crops.

Genetically modified crops helps to enhance the profit of business firms.

They reduce the use of pesticides.

Furthermore, they also help to reduce the crops from getting extinct.

The Monsanto’s round-up ready wheat is genetically modified wheat produced by Monsanto. The crops provide good yield and enhanced profits. Besides this, it also helps to reduce the use of pesticides. Therefore, Cooley might support the production of round-up ready wheat.

However, this genetically modified product has several side effects. For example, it is contaminating the native wheat crops. Hence, the farmers using genetically modified crops cannot offer organic wheat to the customers. Besides this, extensive use of the crop is reducing its ability to control weeds. It might also result in diseases and physiological disorder in crops. Besides this, it might have negative affect on human health. Therefore, one should not support the production and usage of genetically modified round-up wheat.