November 11, 1998

Monsanto's 'Spectre' Dims

Has CEO Bob Shapiro, the 'Goldfinger' of biotechnology, suddenly become the 'Man with the Minus Touch' ... or has Monsanto run afoul 007?

Why has Monsanto's biotech PR blitz crashed and burnt? Why did the Monsanto- American Home Products marriage break up before it was consummated? Why has the EU's pro-Monsanto patent directive been challenged by the Dutch? Why did the world's largest international ag research network ban the Terminator? Did Monsanto get too close to the Terminator's sterility system? Or, as RAFI suspects, did the "Monster" run afoul the redoubtable 007 ? 

"Omegalopoly"? Back in 1963, when Monsanto's CEO, Bob Shapiro was still wet behind his corporate ears, Ian Fleming published his latest 007 thriller, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. In the 1969 screen version, George Lazenby starred as James Bond, the invincible super-spy. In the adventure, Fleming's hero locks horns with SPECTRE - a powerful and mysterious organization bent on world domination. SPECTRE's scientists are preparing to unleash a new biological weapon that renders seeds and livestock sterile. A predictable bevy of 'farmers' daughters', buxomly-burdened with the obvious side effect of early experimentation with BST (aka bovine growth hormone) are being readied to spread the sterilizer throughout the farmlands of the world. The only way to prevent this assault on humanity's food supply is for the United Nations to ante-up a hefty ransom, or for 007 to spring to the rescue. The project code name is "Dis-Omega" - presumably implying the "end of the line" for world food security.

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