Mega Merger

Four days ago, the scope of the potential impact of the Terminator Technology on global agriculture broadened explosively with the announcement that American Home Products Corporation (AHP) had agreed to buy Monsanto Co. for $33.9 billion in stock. "AHP," according to its press release, "is one of the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical and health care products companies. It is also a global leader in vaccines, biotechnology, agricultural products and animal health care." Reuters reports that the acquisition will create "a powerful pharmaceutical company with a massive presence in the growing market for genetically engineered agricultural products."

Actually, AHP is a family of companies including American Cyanamid, Cyamid Agricultural Products Group, Wyeth Ayerst, and others. It is the third largest in the US in herbicides, insecticides and fungicides but, with its acquisition of Monsanto, it is now estimated that the combined companies will become the largest agrochemical/life industries company in the world, beating Swiss global giant, Novartis. It does not take a giant mental leap to see the massive potential for the application and marketing of Monsanto's Roundup Ready seed and licensing agreements and the Terminator Technology to an increasing number of companies and food crops. If the Terminator technology is not globally banned, its eventual incorporation into all genetically engineered and open-pollinated, non-hybrid food crops is predictable.