Innovation Case Study Monsanto Roundup Ready Soybean
Innovation Case Study
Monsanto Roundup Ready Soybean
Introduction – A Brief History of Monsanto
Monsanto was created in 1901. The company focused primarily on basic industrial chemicals and during the 1940’s became the leading manufacturers of synthetic fibers and plastics. They continued to be one of the US top ten chemical companies. Following the Second World War, Monsanto championed the use of chemical herbicides in agriculture and created such agrochemical products as DDT, Lasso and Agent Orange, which was widely used as a defoliant by the US government in the Vietnam War until it was shown to be highly carcinogenic. Following the ban of Agent Orange and increasing criticism of Lasso, Monsanto developed a new herbicide, Roundup that became their most profitable product. From the 1980’s onward Monsanto was hit hard by a series of lawsuits concerning the production of pollutants that posed a serious threat to the environment and human health. In response to this they needed to radically transform the company and relaunched itself as an agricultural biotechnology company. The company claimed that their new technology could achieve goals such as ensuring adequate food production, responding to the challenge of global warming and reduce agriculture’s negative impacts on the environment. Monsanto went on to become the dominant player in commercial genetically engineered (GE) crops.
The product I am going to look at in this case study is Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybean.
How Development was Influenced
The development of this product was encouraged by the need to support another existing Monsanto product that was already on the market. Round-Up, a weed killer developed by Monsanto, was launched in 1976. This herbicide was a replacement for previous herbicides that had been banned such as Agent Orange and Lasso. Round-Up had global success and helped to make Monsanto the world’s largest producer of herbicides. Within a few years of
Monsanto Roundup Ready Soybean
Introduction – A Brief History of Monsanto
Monsanto was created in 1901. The company focused primarily on basic industrial chemicals and during the 1940’s became the leading manufacturers of synthetic fibers and plastics. They continued to be one of the US top ten chemical companies. Following the Second World War, Monsanto championed the use of chemical herbicides in agriculture and created such agrochemical products as DDT, Lasso and Agent Orange, which was widely used as a defoliant by the US government in the Vietnam War until it was shown to be highly carcinogenic. Following the ban of Agent Orange and increasing criticism of Lasso, Monsanto developed a new herbicide, Roundup that became their most profitable product. From the 1980’s onward Monsanto was hit hard by a series of lawsuits concerning the production of pollutants that posed a serious threat to the environment and human health. In response to this they needed to radically transform the company and relaunched itself as an agricultural biotechnology company. The company claimed that their new technology could achieve goals such as ensuring adequate food production, responding to the challenge of global warming and reduce agriculture’s negative impacts on the environment. Monsanto went on to become the dominant player in commercial genetically engineered (GE) crops.
The product I am going to look at in this case study is Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybean.
How Development was Influenced
The development of this product was encouraged by the need to support another existing Monsanto product that was already on the market. Round-Up, a weed killer developed by Monsanto, was launched in 1976. This herbicide was a replacement for previous herbicides that had been banned such as Agent Orange and Lasso. Round-Up had global success and helped to make Monsanto the world’s largest producer of herbicides. Within a few years of
Bibliography: Bainbridge, David. Intellectual Property. Longman. 2010 Cornish, William