Monsanto leads in genetically modified agriculture, trails in ethics

It

's not easy being Monsanto. At least, not this year. While remaining the undisputed colossus of food and agriculture -- think Microsoft with even less competition -- Monsanto reported that second quarter net income declined by nearly 19%.

Don't shed any tears for Monsanto, though. In actual dollars it "only" pulled in around a net $887 million as opposed to well over $1 billion in previous second quarters. Nevertheless, the decline isn't shocking considering the kind of year it's been for the corporation so far.

In addition to the Justice Department investigation into its monopolistic business practices, and the news than its genetically modified seeds might cause organ failure, Monsanto has recently been named on a list of the world's most to least ethical corporations.

The Swiss research outfit Covalence ranked 581 corporations from most ethical to least ethical. And where was Monsanto on the list?