Monsanto faces strong resistance movement

THE US agribusiness giant, Monsanto, has been at the centre of a global controversy for over four decades, a debate that just refuses to go away. The biotech conglomerate has declared that its genetically modified (GM) seeds and food as well as its pesticides are not harmful for human consumption. But last month, Monsanto found itself facing a lawsuit alleging that its pesticide causes cancer.

The case, brought by more than 300 plaintiffs in a federal court in San Francisco, is being closely watched in the US and in more than three dozen countries that have banned the use of GM products, including more than half of the countries in the European Union such as Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Greece, and Poland.

A GMO, or genetically modified organism, is a plant, animal, or microorganism whose genetic makeup has been altered in a laboratory using genetic engineering or transgenic technology. It results in the creation of combinations of plant, animal, bacterial and virus genes that do not occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding methods.