Is it wrong for companies such as Monsanto to aggressively protect their business interests in the face of a consumer backlash?

What will be an ideal response?

Not necessarily. Business interests are not always incompatible with the public
interest. Even in this case, reasonable people could differ on the appropriateness
of the technology. At issue in such a confrontation is whether the benefits of such
a struggle outweigh the effects of negative public opinion. When public outcry
threatens to influence the actions of key publics such as government regulators,
there may be too much danger in continuing the fight. What can make this
decision so difficult is that it often involves a conflict of values. In this case, the
controversy pitted the company's commitment to protecting its shareholders'
interests against what critics saw as social and environmental interests.