The world according to Monsanto : pollution, corruption, and

206 the world according to monsantoseeds, it just rents them, for one season, and it remains the permanent ownerof the genetic information contained in the seed, which is divested of its statusas a living organism and becomes a mere commodity. Finally, farmers becameusers of Monsanto’s intellectual property. When you realize that seedsare the basis for feeding the world, I think there are reasons to be worried.”“But what means does Monsanto have to enforce its contract?”“They’re huge. I was stunned when I found out that they’d hired thePinkerton Detective Agency.* Monsanto pays its agents to comb the countrysidelooking for cheaters, and if necessary it seeks out informants. Thecompany set up a toll-free number where anyone can denounce his neighbor.It spends a lot of money to enforce its rule in the fields.”Of course, all this could have been avoided if Robert Shapiro had beenable to use the Terminator technique, which would have allowed him to resolvethe company’s “dilemma” without spending a penny and above allwithout having to set up a very unpopular war machine.The Gene Police“Biotech crops are protected by U.S. patent law,” John Hoffman, vice presidentof the American Soybean Association, told me with his perpetual smile.“And so I may not in any way save seed to replant the following year. It’ssomething that is a protection for Monsanto, for biotech companies. Becausethey literally invest millions and millions of dollars to produce thisnew technology we are very happy to use.” Listening to this Iowa farmerbrought to mind Hugh Grant, the CEO of Monsanto, who said the samething in an interview with Daniel Charles: “We are interested in protectingour intellectual property, and we make no apologies for that. . . . It’s as hardas that. There’s a gene in there that’s the property of Monsanto, and it’s illegalfor a farmer to take that gene and create it in a second crop. It’s necessaryfrom the point of view of return on investment, and it’s against the law.” 6*Notorious for its violent methods, like those of a private militia, particularly when it was hired tobreak strikes in the late nineteenth century. The Pinkerton National Detective Agency was foundedin 1850 by Alan Pinkerton, who had his moment of glory when he foiled an assassination attemptagainst President Abraham Lincoln, who hired his agents to ensure his security during the Civil War.Helped by its logo—an eye with the slogan “We never sleep”—the agency was hired by companiesto infiltrate unions and factories with methods summed up in the expression “bloody Pinkerton,”designating a strike-breaking cop.