Article: Monsanto - Friend or Foe?
Monsanto - Friend or Foe?
by: Dr. Janet Starr Hull, Ph.D., CN
http://www.sweetpoison.com/newsletter/
Monsanto Chemical Company has recently applied to the FDA
for commercial approval of genetically engineered wheat. This
will have far-reaching effects on farmers, consumers, and the
environment. Organic farmers may face genetic cross-
contamination. Conventional farmers may lose the freedom to
save their seed, as Monsanto will have the right to enforce its
patents. Farmers may also lose overseas markets because
genetically engineered (GMO) grains aren't accepted in most
foreign countries. Prices will probably fall, as have already
occurred with corn.
Monsanto's background is most attention grabbing and
diverse. Monsanto Chemical Company is a leading provider
of agricultural products and incorporated 'solutions' for
farmers. They make Roundup®, the world's best-selling
herbicide, as well as other herbicides. Monsanto produces
leading seed brands, including DEKALB® and Asgrow®, and
they provide farmers and other seed companies with
biotechnology traits for insect protection and herbicide
tolerance. They also are responsible for the creation and
distribution of the Bovine Growth Hormone, and have
deep-rooted connections to the soft drink industry through
the manufacturing of both saccharin and NutraSweet. They
'adopted' NutraSweet when GD Searle Pharmaceuticals
bought them out in 1991.
What are the fine points behind this powerful company and
how did it acquire such dominant world influence and diversity?
Monsanto Chemical Works opened its doors in St. Louis in
1901. In 2001, Monsanto celebrated its 100th anniversary as
a business enterprise.
After 30 years in the pharmaceutical industry, John Francis
Queeny, still an employee of Meyer Brothers Drug Company,
sank his savings and money borrowed from a Chicago soft
drink supplier into a new company to produce products for
the food and pharmaceutical industries. He named the
company after his wife, whose maiden name was Olga
Monsanto. The corporate papers were filed on Nov. 29, 1901.
In 1902, Monsanto gained its reputation manufacturing
saccharin, the company's first product. In 1903 to 1905,
their entire saccharin output was shipped to the growing
soft drink company in Georgia called Coca-Cola.
In 1904, Monsanto introduced caffeine and vanillin as products
for the escalating soft drink industry. Initially, vanillin was
produced by extracting a chemical from cloves that were
purchased from the Sultan of Zanzibar who insisted that the
left-over spices be returned to him. Cloves had an important
religious significance in the cremation of bodies, so there
was importance in shipping them back to Zanzibar instead of
disposing of them as waste in the United States.
By 1915, Monsanto's sales surpassed the $1 million mark.
Two years later, the company began the production of
aspirin. Monsanto remained the largest U.S. producer of
aspirin until the 1980s.
In 1917, the U.S. government filed suit over the safety
of saccharin. Filed at Monsanto's request as a test case,
the suit was dismissed in 1925, ending the government's
unsuccessful attempts then to prove saccharin harmful.
In 1981, saccharin was again questioned as a carcinogen,
but no conclusive scientific proof was ever presented. In 2001,
the cancer warning was removed from saccharin products as
saccharin was shown, once again, to be safe for human
consumption.
Despite saccharin's cancer 'propaganda' in 1981, in 1985
G.D. Searle & Co. purchased Monsanto, taking the company
deeper into pharmaceuticals and the sweetener industry.
NutraSweet, saccharin's competitor, was now owned and
marketed by the same company - Monsanto.
World War II brought Monsanto and the American government
closer together as Monsanto became involved in research
on uranium for the Manhattan Project, which led to the first
nuclear bombs. Later, Monsanto operated the Mound (Ohio)
Laboratory as a nuclear facility for the Federal government
until the late 1980s, and their Dayton Laboratory was used
as a research facility for nuclear-based and other
government-funded projects.
Monsanto was in the petroleum business by 1955, having
acquired Lion Oil primarily to provide themselves petrochemical
raw materials. Lion Oil also put the company into the fertilizer
business, and brought to Monsanto hydrocarbon technology, oil
and gas reserves, and a retail gasoline business. The refinery
and service stations were sold in 1972.
In 1977, Monsanto established a joint petrochemical venture
with Conoco Oil Company at the Chocolate Bayou plant. They
were eventually bought out and the money from the acquisition
fueled their drive to acquire a pharmaceutical company.
At this time, G.D. Searle & Co. had succeeded in getting
the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration to finally approve NutraSweet
(aspartame) for the second time, and prepared to purchase
Monsanto in 1985. When Monsanto sold its sweetener business
in 2000, including the NutraSweet brand sweetener, it brought
Monsanto $440 million.
By 1998, Monsanto started buying seed companies and genetic
laboratories. In December 1999, Monsanto and Pharmacia &
Upjohn announced plans to merge the two companies.
Monsanto and Pharmacia & Upjohn completed their merger
on March 31 naming the new company the Pharmacia
Corporation. The agricultural operations within Pharmacia
retain the Monsanto name - the company reknown for
Roundup, the Bovine Growth Hormone, multifarious seed
companies, saccharin and NutraSweet.
So what's in Monsanto's future? The company has formed a
wheat industry advisory committee to provide advice and
counsel on how best to bring forward biotechnology products
in wheat. They have begun posting product safety information
for their current agricultural biotechnology products. Along
with Round Up, they are marketing with widespread availability
the drug, L-DOPA, used today for the treatment of Parkinson's
disease. And they have placed the first U.S. corporate order to
General Motors for pick-up trucks that use ethanol-based E85
fuel, part of a larger initiative to focus new research to
enhance the use of bioenergy.
Ah. Diversity in ownership ...
