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6. Inclusion, Diversity, Environmental Sustainability & Animal Rights

Diversity and Inclusion 1

  • A study by global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company indicates that businesses with gender and ethnic diversity outperform others.
  • Income inequality is an economic or ethical issue or even both.
  • For decades, some companies have hired many full-time workers as independent contractors because it saves them money on a variety of employee benefits they do not have to offer as a result. However, that practice shifts the burden to the workers, who now have to pay the full cost of their health insurance, workers’ compensation, unemployment benefits, time off, and payroll taxes.
  • A recent Department of Labor study indicates that employer costs for employee compensation averaged $35.64 per hour worked in September 2017; wages and salaries averaged $24.33 per hour worked and accounted for 68 percent of these costs, whereas benefit costs averaged $11.31 and accounted for the remaining 32 percent.

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) 4

  • One company in particular, Monsanto, has become so closely associated with GMOs that it has become the target of worldwide criticism and a number of public protests.
  • A GMO is any organism whose genes have been modified unnaturally.1 “Unnatural” gene modification involves isolating a gene from one species and splicing it into another.
  • The term GMO refers not only to food products, but also to animals, insects, and medications that have been produced through genetic modification.
  • The first medicine produced through genetic engineering was insulin.
  • To date, the primary focus has been on improved farming productivity. Most GMO crops available today were created to be resistant to specific pests, pesticides, diseases, or difficult environmental conditions such as floods or drought.
  • For example, one of the most commercially successful genetic modifications for crops is one that makes them resistant to glyphosate, an especially effective herbicide developed by Monsanto and sold under the trademark Roundup.
  • Monsanto has developed seeds for GM crops that are resistant to glyphosate and are therefore marketed as “Roundup Ready.” By using GM crops that are resistant to glyphosate, farmers can control weeds more easily.
  • This allows farmers to increase harvests while using less labor because there is less need to plow fields once they have been cleared of weeds with glyphosate. Clearing weeds also reduces the presence of insect predators that could diminish crop yields.
  • In China, switching to GM cotton decreased the use of pesticides by 80%.
  • In the United States today, over 90% of soybean, cotton, corn, and other crops are genetically modified.
  • Large corporations have dominated the world of genetic engineering since the Supreme Court ruled that genes could be patented as it is harder for small companies to compete in this field.
  • In the view of GMO skeptics, available research on GM food is usually biased in favor of GMOs because it is hard to get funding for research that is not.
  • It is frequently argued that GM crops are helping farmers solve the world’s hunger problems. Conceivably, GM crops help improve food sustainability, enhance environmental farming methods, and produce more nutritious food. Thus, it is generally accepted that GM crops can yield greater amounts of food (though not in all cases). Since GM crops can be designed to grow at a uniform speed and size, harvesting is simplified and yield is increased
  • GM crops are commonly engineered to require fewer pesticides and to be planted with no-till methods, thereby decreasing erosion, fuel consumption, and herbicide use. Moreover, GM crops can yield more nutrients.
  • On the other side of the discussion, advocates for organic farming methods argue that sophisticated organic farming can actually produce higher crop yields than GM crops. Proponents of this view argue that world food problems are more often caused by poor distribution rather than a lack of available food. Improving the availability of food through the increased yields of GM crops cannot solve distribution problems.
  • Anti-GMO groups also maintain that GM crops make farmers reliant on corporations that supply seeds and chemicals, thereby perpetuating poverty by yoking farmers into a cycle of dependence.
  • Opponents of mandatory labeling contend that GM foods are safe and do not require labels, while proponents maintain that consumers have a right to know what is in their food.
  • The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an organization that promotes scientific integrity and publishes the journal Science, has stated that attacks against GMOs and the fight to have them labeled can cause unnecessary alarm among consumers. The AAAS considers fears about GMO safety unfounded.
  • Other opponents of mandatory labeling argue that genetic modification of food is not different from the widely accepted practice of adding fluoride to our water, which does not require labeling under American law.
  • Greater regulation of GM foods could generate unfounded suspicion of good food products, and this suspicion could hinder further GM development and research.
  • However, there are a small number of studies that do suggest that GM food can cause impaired liver and kidney function as well as impaired embryo development. In addition, it has been conjectured that GM foods cause antibiotic resistance and that they provide less nutrition because they may have lower levels of naturally occurring nutrients or hormones.
  • Clear labeling would allow individuals who may be especially susceptible to the harms of GMOs to avoid GMO foods.
  • Many anti-GMO groups argue that not enough research has been done to know if GM crops are safe for human consumption.
  • While GM foods are freely grown in the United States, other regions, most notably the European Union, enforce strict regulations on GM crops.
  • The European Food Safety Authority examines three aspects of GM food: genetic composition of the food, risk, and environmental impact.
  • A study of Filipino food production and the retail system concluded that labeling for GMO foods would result in cost increases of up to 12% for manufacturers.
  • In 2008, the United States was responsible for about 50% of GM crops planted globally, including 80% of GM corn, 92% of GM soybeans, and 93% of GM canola. It has been reported that over 70% of processed food sold in the United States contains GMOs.
  • We oppose current initiatives to mandate the labeling of ingredients developed from GM seeds in the absence of any demonstrated risks. Such mandatory labeling could imply that food products containing these ingredients are somehow inferior to their conventional or organic counterparts.
  • FDA guidance requires labeling of food products containing ingredients from GM seed if there is a meaningful difference between that food and its conventional counterpart.
  • Genetic engineering has allowed scientists to develop crops that consume less water, grow in harsh environments, and produce less carbon dioxide, as molecular biologist Henry Miller points out.

References

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  1. Byars, S. M., & Stanberry, K. (2018). Ch. 8 Introduction - Business Ethics | OpenStax. Openstax.org; OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/business-ethics/pages/8-introduction ↩

  2. Laws We Enforce. (2015, August 6). Justice.gov. https://www.justice.gov/crt/laws-we-enforce ↩

  3. Equality of Opportunity - SDG Academy Library. (2019). Kaltura.com. https://sdgacademylibrary.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/Equality+of+Opportunity/1_ns6o8uyb ↩

  4. Jimenez, G. C. (2016). 4. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). Geneseo.edu; Open SUNY Textbooks. https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/good-corporation-bad-corporation/chapter/4-genetically-modified-organisms-gmos/ ↩

  5. Jimenez, G. C. (2016). Appendix B: Friend, Foe, or Frock: Animal Rights in Fashion by Briana N. Laemel. Geneseo.edu; Open SUNY Textbooks. https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/good-corporation-bad-corporation/chapter/appendix-b-friend-foe-or-frock-animal-rights-in-fashion-by-briana-n-laemel/ ↩

  6. What Is a Genetically Modified Food? - Instant Egghead #45. (2017). Kaltura. https://www.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/1934481/uiconf_id/45150521/entry_id/1_vvrvplkx/embed/thumb? ↩

  7. Climate Change 101 with Bill Nye | National Geographic. (2017). Kaltura. https://www.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/1934481/uiconf_id/45150521/entry_id/1_njp13kox/embed/thumb? ↩

  8. Jimenez, G. C. (2016). 3. Climate Change. Geneseo.edu; Open SUNY Textbooks. https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/good-corporation-bad-corporation/chapter/3-climate-change/ ↩