Have you heard of Monsanto, the chemical company?
Would it scare you if they got into the pharmaceutical
business? Why is that? I’m Forrest Maready
and this is my incredible opinion.
Monsanto is a sustainable agriculture company
that supports farmers all around the world.
Merck is an international developer, manufacturer
and distributor of pharmaceuticals. How are
they so different? What if I told you that
Monsanto was getting into the pharmaceutical
industry? Specifically, they're interested
in developing vaccines. Their 115 years of
scientific research have given them fresh
insight into understanding how the human immune
system deals with genetically modified material,
and they want to put it to good use. They’re
going to build on their RoundUp brand and
kick things off with an MMR vaccine called
RoundUp MMR. It’s so safe, you could ingest
thousands of doses with no ill effects. It
doesn’t even require a visit to the doctor-
you can take it orally with the spray bottle,
or use the pico-needle injection patch.
Why does this feel strange? Are Merck and
Monsanto really that different? Aren’t they
really just manipulating some otherwise naturally
occurring processes in a sterile lab to perfect
that which nature couldn’t?
Monsanto, the company that everyone loves
to hate. What haven’t they done wrong? Poisoning
the earth with their profit-driven greed,
putting human safety in the last position
on a long list of concerns. You would think
their interview process must include a portion
for filtering out humane, reasonable people.
I could mention that they have reduced the
overall price of food by 50%, or that with
their products you can now grow 3x as much
food in the same amount space, which has gone
a long way towards reducing world hunger.
Those sure sound like noble causes to me,
but there’s a stank of hatred that hangs
around Monsanto that can’t be shed.
Some of it involves their strong-arm tactics
to coerce farmers into using their products.
Some of it might be because of those stories
where they were suing farmers who were inadvertently
using Monsanto seeds that had drifted onto
their property from a nearby farm. These are
definitely despicable acts, but I don’t
think they’re enough to justify the revulsion
many people feel about the company. I think I know why people hate Monsanto, but it makes me wonder
why people don’t also hate Merck.
Let’s take a look at the parallels, shall we?
1) Huge company? Monsanto- $15 billion in
2015. 22,000 employees. Merck- $40 billion
in 2015, 68,000 employees.
2) Controls much of the world’s production
of something very important? Monsanto- food.
Merck- pharmaceuticals.
3) Has used science and technology to manipulate
naturally occurring processes in hopes of
bettering humanity? Monsanto- GMO crops.
Merck, a couple of hundred other things.
4) Both of their products are produced by
well-intentioned scientists in sterile labs
and come with extensive safety inserts documenting
some of their dangers.
5) They both have executive level positions typically filled from government agencies that work together
to suppress damaging reports from reaching
the public. Monsanto typically hires
obedient government officials as employees
once they’re done with their public servitude
and want to make some real money. So does
Merck. Work in government a while, give the
thumbs up to questionable legislation that benefits the company over public safety,
and why yes, we have an $350,000/year opening
for you at our company next year!
They seem fairly similar to me. So why is
Monsanto so hated, and Merck generally respected?
Oh wait! The toxic, cancer thing? Oh, oh yeah.
I forgot about that- some people are saying
that RoundUp is causing both ecological and
biological damage. Really? Are you serious?
Look, right here on their site- they say it's
safe. They say that there are over 800 studies
demonstrating it's safety. Still not convinced?
Let's look at the FDA site. Here's a report
about Carbendazim in Orange Juice. I don't
see anything about RoundUp or Glyphosate.
OK, I’m going to play a little game here, and
transpose a specific set of events, they’re
well documented events by the way, I’m going
to transpose them from Merck to Monsanto.
Let’s see how how it holds up.
Let’s imagine that instead of 20% of vegetable
production in America, Monsanto controlled
nearly all of it. Let’s say 95%. That would
feel like a serious monopoly. Since Monsanto controls
95% of vegetable production, you'll have a
very hard time finding another source of vegetables.
You become concerned over their safety record,
and don’t want your kids eating their vegetables.
You decide that you want to grow your own
vegetables for your children, because you
feel like Monsanto may be putting their corporate
profits ahead of your kid’s safety. But
Monsanto is a couple of steps ahead of you.
They have successfully lobbied the government
that growing vegetables in your backyard can
be dangerous, even harmful to your children,
and as such, many states have outlawed growing
vegetables in your own backyard. In fact,
not only can you not grow your own vegetables,
Monsanto has helped create legislation that
will prevent your children from attending
school if they don’t eat Monsanto vegetables.
Sound preposterous? Completely far-fetched?  Well if were to retell this story,
but take out Monsanto and put in Merck, you would have the exact sequence of events that happened
less than 20 years ago.
I could tell many other stories like this,
switching out Monsanto and Merck, Round-Up
for a number of their products, and you would
have stories that would make you feel Monsanto
to be far more evil than you ever thought
possible. But somehow when the perpetrator is Merck,
well then some reason humans are able to forgive.
Why is this? What’s the difference between
Monsanto and Merck other than Merck makes
much more money and uses government coercion
to force feed their concoctions to your children?
At least with Monsanto, you can abstain from
their products without risking jail time.
If you mention to someone you're not buying
Monsanto products, they'll give you a high-five and a Whole Foods bumper sticker
you can put on your 2009 Toyota Prius-C. If I were to tell you I’m boycotting Merck’s products,
you’d put on a Hazmat suit
and tell me I’m a sorry excuse for a Neanderthal.
How can you, with two very similar
companies, who both have cozy relationships
with government, who both manipulate otherwise
natural processes in ways that have the potential
to create some very bad problems, who have
had histories of creating some very bad problems,
how can you hate one and love the other?
The next time you buy some Round-Up for your
lawn, ask yourself- Would you let that same
company inject your children with their products?
Would you be OK with the government forcing
their injection against your will?
The next time you give your child a vaccine,
ask yourself- What have Merck and other pharmaceutical
companies done so differently that Monsanto
has failed at so badly? Let’s hope it’s
the science. Because if it’s not, that would
mean it’s the PR. And if Merck is simply
Monsanto with a better public relations team, we’re in serious trouble.
And that is my incredible opinion.
