Are genetically engineered seeds harming human health?

American agrochemical firm Monsanto was the world’s largest maker of genetically engineered seeds until merged with German pharma-biotech giant Bayer in 2018. Its Roundup Ready® seeds, introduced twenty-five years ago, are still reshaping farms, landscapes and ecosystems all over the world.

Bart Elmore is a professor of environmental history at Ohio State University, as well as an award-winning author. Alasdair spoke to him about his 2021 book on the history of Monsanto, Seed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future.

Further reading:
• Click here to buy (wwnorton.com/books/9781324002048) Seed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future
• Click here to buy Bart's latest book (uncpress.org/book/9781469673332/country-capita…), Country Capitalism: How Corporations from the American South Remade Our Economy and the Planet
• 'The herbicide dicamba was supposed to solve farmers’ weed problems – instead, it’s making farming harder for many of them (theconversation.com/the-herbicide-dicamba-was-…)', The Conversation, January 2022
• 'Coca-Cola’s biggest challenge in greening its operations is its own global marketing strategy (theconversation.com/coca-colas-biggest-challen…)', The Conversation, May 2023
• Baptized in PCBs: Race, Pollution, and Justice in an All-American Town (uncpress.org/book/9781469627298/baptized-in-pcbs), Ellen Griffith Spears, 2014
• Genetically Engineered Crops: Experiences and Prospects (nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/23395/geneti…), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, 2016
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