The profit motive is exactly why I am so leery about GMO's. When I lived in Canada, I met one of the farmers who was put of out business by Monsanto. He didn't sign a contract with them and he wasn't growing their seeds, but his neighbors were. When they would drive by his farm with their uncovered loads of grain and some of it blew into his field, and started growing on its own, Monsanto took him to court, wore him down, bankrupted him and confiscated all the heritage seeds that his family had been developing for generations. You can find out more at this link Percy Schmeiser - David versus Monsanto (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1522241/)

If they will do this to a well educated farmer in Canada, what would happen to small powerless farmers like those in India, Africa and Central America? There is no way they have the education to understand the consequences of cross-pollination, terminator genes, glyphosates or read the ungainly contract that Monsanto expects its seed customers to sign.

I live in a small Mayan village in Guatemala, and GMO seeds are supposed to be illegal here. There was huge protest in the capital a few years ago where the farmers protested the government's plan to start to allow GMO corn to be grown here. Corn is the backbone of the Mayan culture and the staple diet for the people in this country. I can understand why there was a protest. However, I have seen a plot of GMO corn growing down the street from my house. It is very obvious that it is not the local strain of corn. The people here are poor and very susceptible to greed. If they can get a bit of money for now, they don't think about the future consequences. In fact, thinking about the future is not a part of their culture or thought processes. It is not something they have been taught to value and I feel it has been purposely left out of their education. (this is a part of a much larger cultural discussion that I don't want to get into here and now).

It is a very real possibility that if GMO corn is allowed to continue infiltrating the small farms, that these people could lose their heritage strains of corn that they have been growing for thousands of years. Not only would this be a huge blow to their already compromised Mayan culture, but it will impact their health, as their bodies are accustomed to digest the local strains of corn and beans that families have passed down through the years. This is a real problem. Already large groups of these people are suffering from new "Western" diseases that were never seen 30 -40 years ago. The incidents of gastritis, diabetes, cancer, and stress related problems has skyrocketed here as first world countries have brought their packaged and processed foods here. Every small store (tienda) is packed full of chips, pop, margarine, vegetable oil and sugary snacks. None of which was here before all the first world countries started exporting their garbage here. You can't buy fruit or veggies at these stores. And since these people are poor, it is way more tempting for them to buy these cheap and unhealthy snacks than good whole foods and prepare a meal.

So the topic of GMOs is a large one encompassing many inter-related issues from health to economics. Given their track record, I seriously doubt that Monsanto is developing any product solely for humanitarian reasons. Even if they gave these seeds away for free forevermore, it still wouldn't make up for the harm they have caused thus far.