MonsantoMonsanto Company Inc.

TypePublic

Traded asNYSE:MONS&P 500 Component

IndustryAgribusiness

FoundedSt. Louis, Missouri, U.S. (1901)

Founder(s)John Francis Queeny

HeadquartersCreve Coeur, Missouri, U.S.

Key peopleHugh Grant(Chairman, President and CEO)

ProductsHerbicides,pesticides,crop seeds

RevenueUS$ 11.822billion(FY 2011)[1]

Operating incomeUS$ 2.502billion(FY 2011)[1]

Net incomeUS$ 1.659billion(FY 2011)[1]

Total assetsUS$ 19.844billion(FY 2011)[1]

Total equityUS$ 11.716billion(FY 2011)[1]

Employees20,600(August 2011)[2]

WebsiteMonsanto.com

Monsanto Company(NYSE:MON) is a publicly traded Americanmultinationalagricultural biotechnologycorporation headquartered inCreve Coeur, Missouri.[3][4]It is a leading producer ofgenetically engineered(GE)seedand of theherbicideglyphosate, which it markets under theRoundupbrand.[5]Founded in 1901 byJohn Francis Queeny, by the 1940's it was a major producer of plastics, includingpolystyreneandsynthetic fibers. Notable achievements by Monsanto and its scientists as a chemical company included breakthrough research oncatalyticasymmetric hydrogenationand being the first company to mass-producelight emitting diodes(LEDs). The company also formerly manufactured controversial products such as the insecticideDDT,PCBs,Agent Orange, andrecombinantbovine somatotropin.Monsanto was among the first togenetically modifya plant cell, along with three academic teams, which was announced in 1983,[6]and was among the first to conduct field trials ofgenetically modified crops, which it did in 1987. It remained one of the top 10 U.S.chemical companies until it divested most of its chemical businesses between 1997 and 2002, through a process of mergers and spin-offs that focused the company onbiotechnology.Monsanto was a pioneer in applying thebiotechnology industrybusiness model, developed byGenentechand other biotech drug companies in the late 1970s in California,[7]to agriculture. In this business model, companies invest heavily in research and develop and recoup the expenses through the use and enforcement ofbiological patents.[8][9][10][11]Monsanto's application of this model to agriculture, along with a growing movement to create a global, uniform system ofplant breeders' rightsin the 1980s, came into direct conflict with customary practices of farmers to save, reuse, share and develop plant varieties.[12]Its seed patenting model has also been criticized asbiopiracyand a threat tobiodiversity.[13][14][15]Monsanto even sues innocent farmers whose frankenseeds cross polinated with theirs, which is not preventable for nearby crops. Monsanto of course has to illegally trespass and steal parts of people's crops to test them too.Monsanto's role in these changes in agriculture (which include its litigation and its seed commercialization practices[16]), its current and former agbiotech products, its lobbying of government agencies, and its history as a chemical company, have made Monsanto controversial.Contents[hide] 1History 1.1Spin-offs and mergers 2Corporate governance 3Critics 3.1US government promotion 3.2Seed Regulation in the European Union 4Gallery 5Multimedia 6See also 7References 8External links

History

The Sephardic Jewess, Olga Mendez Monsantowas married to Monsanto founder Queeny.

The people who run Monsanto also run the US Government, includingHillary Clinton.Monsanto was founded inSt. Louis, Missouri, in 1901 underJohn Francis Queeny, a businessman born inChicagoof Scottish ancestry, who originally worked for the Jewish-ownedMeyer Brothers Drug Company, one of the largest wholesale pharmaceutical companies at the time. Queeny married aSephardicJewess named Olga Mendez Monsanto,the daughter of Don Emmanuel Mendes de Monsanto.The Jewish Monsanto family were involved in thetrans-Atlantic slave tradeand sugar plantation industry, with interests in theWest Indies,Puerto RicoandLouisiana. The Monsantos were just one of many Jewish families involved in the enslavement ofBlack Africans. Queeny and Monsanto had children, includingEdgar Monsanto Queeny,who was the second Chairman of Monsanto, carrying on the Jewish bloodline. The company's first product was theartificial sweetenersaccharin, which was sold to theCoca-Cola Company.In 1919 Monsanto expanded to Europe by entering a partnership with Graesser's Chemical Works atCefn MawrnearRuabon, Wales to producevanillin,aspirinand its raw ingredientsalicylic acid, and laterrubberprocessing chemicals. This site was later sold and closed in 2010. In the 1920s Monsanto expanded into basic industrial chemicals likesulfuric acidandPCBs, and Queeny's sonEdgar Monsanto Queenytook over the company in 1928.In 1946 it developed "All" laundry detergent and began to market it; they sold the product line to Lever Brothers in 1957.[17]Also in the 1940s, Monsanto operated theDayton Project, and laterMound Laboratoriesin Miamisburg, Ohio, for theManhattan Project, the development of the firstnuclear weaponsand, after 1947, theAtomic Energy Commission. In 1947 one of its factories was destroyed in theTexas City Disaster.[18]Monsanto acquired American Viscose from England's Courtauld family in 1949. In 1954 Monsanto partnered with German chemical giantBayerto formMobayand marketpolyurethanesin the United States.Monsanto began manufacturingDDTin 1944, along with some 15 other companies.[19]This insecticide was much welcomed in the fight against malaria-transmitting mosquitoes. Due to DDT's toxicity, its use in the United States was banned in 1972. In 1977 Monsanto stopped producing PCBs; the United States Congress banned domestic PCB production two years later.[20]In the 1960s and 1970s, Monsanto was also one of the most important producers ofAgent OrangeforUnited States Armed Forcesoperations inVietnam.In the mid1960s,William Standish Knowlesand his team invented a way to selectively synthesizeenantiomersviaasymmetric hydrogenation. This was an important advancement because it was the first method for thecatalyticproduction of purechiralcompounds.[21]Using this method, Knowles' team designed the "first industrial process to chirally synthesize an important compound" Ldopa, which is currently the main drug used to treatParkinson's disease.[22]In 2001 Knowles andRyji Noyoriwon theNobel Prize in Chemistry. In the mid-1960s chemists at Monsanto developed theMonsanto processfor makingacetic acid, which until 2000 was the method most widely used to make this important industrial chemical. In 1965 Monsanto chemists inventedAstroTurf, which the company then commercialized.In 1968 they became the first company to start mass production of (visible)light emitting diodes(LEDs), using gallium arsenide phosphide. This ushered in the era of solid-state lights. From 1968 to 1970, sales doubled every few months. Their products (discrete LEDs and seven-segment numeric displays) became the standards of industry. The primary markets then were electronic calculators, digital watches, and digital clocks.[23]Monsanto was a pioneer of optoelectronics in the 1970s.In 1979 Monsanto established the Edgar Monsanto Queeny safety award in honor of its former CEO (19281960), an annual $2,000PRIZEgiven to a member of theAmerican Society of Safety Engineersto encourage accident prevention.[24]Monsanto scientists became the first togenetically modifya plant cell in 1982. Five years later, Monsanto conducted the first field tests of genetically engineered crops.In 1985 Monsanto acquiredG. D. Searle & Company, alife sciencescompany focusing on pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and animal health. In 1993 Monsanto's Searle division filed a patent application forCelebrex,[25][26]which in 1998 became the first selectiveCOX2 inhibitorto be approved by the U.S.Food and Drug Administration(FDA).[27]Celebrex became ablockbuster drugand was often mentioned as a key reason forPfizer's acquisition of Monsanto's pharmaceutical business in 2002.[28]In 1994 Monsanto introduced arecombinantversion ofbovine somatotropin, brand-named Posilac.[29]Monsanto later sold this business off toEli Lilly and Company.In 1996 Monsanto purchasedAgracetus, the biotechnology company that had generated the first transgenic varieties of cotton, soybeans, peanuts, and other crops, and which Monsanto had already been licencing technology from since 1991.[30]Monsanto first entered the maize seed business when it purchased 40% ofDEKALBin 1996; it purchased the remainder of the corporation in 1998.[31]In 1998 Monsanto purchasedCargill's seed business, which gave it access to sales and distribution facilities in 51 countries.[32]In 2005, it finalized the purchase ofSeminis Inc, a leading global vegetable and fruit seed company, for $1.4 billion.[33]This made it the world's largest conventional seed company at the time.In 2007 Monsanto andBASFannounced a long-term agreement to cooperate in the research, development, and marketing of new plant biotechnology products.[34][35]In October 2008, the company's Canadian division, Monsanto CanadaInc., was named one ofCanada's Top 100 Employersby Mediacorp CanadaInc., and was featured inMaclean'snews magazine.[36]In 2014, Monsanto tried to patent a natural mutation of atomatowhich evolved a naturally occurring resistance to a fungal disease called botrytis. The tomato is not genetically modified, but Monsanto manipulated documents to make the plant look invented by biotech when the plants true maker is Mother Nature, herself.[37]In 2006, investigative news report regarding cancer-causing additives to milk by Monsanto is shut down byFox Newsexecutives.[38]Spin-offs and mergersThrough a series of transactions, the Monsanto that existed from 1901 to 2000 and the current Monsanto are legally two distinct corporations. Although they share the same name and corporate headquarters, many of the same executives and other employees, and responsibility for liabilities arising out of activities in the industrial chemical business, the agricultural chemicals business is the only segment carried forward from the pre-1997 Monsanto Company to the current Monsanto Company. This wasACCOMPLISHEDbeginning in the 1980s: 1985: Monsanto purchasedG. D. Searle & Companyfor $2.7 billion inCASH.[39][40]In this merger, Searle'saspartamebusiness became a separate Monsanto subsidiary, theNutraSweetCompany. CEO of NutraSweet,Robert B. Shapiro, became CEO of Monsanto from 1995 to 2000. 1996: AcquiredAgracetus, a majority interest in Calgene, creators of theFlavr Savrtomato, and 40% ofDEKALB Genetics Corporation. It purchased the remainder of Dekalb in 1998.[41][42] 1997: Monsanto spun off its industrial chemical and fiber divisions intoSolutia Inc.[43]This transferred the financial liability related to the production and contamination withPCBsat the Illinois and Alabama plants. In January, Monsanto announced the purchase of Holden's Foundations Seeds, a privately held seed business. By acquiring Holden's, Monsanto became the biggest American producer of foundation corn, the parent seed from which hybrids are made.[44]The combined purchase price was $925million. Also, in April, Monsanto purchased the remaining shares of Calgene. 1999: Monsanto sold off NutraSweet Co. and two other companies. 2000 (spring): Monsanto merged withPharmacia & Upjohn, and the agricultural division became a wholly owned subsidiary of the "new" Pharmacia; the medical research divisions, which included products such asCelebrex, remained in Pharmacia.[45] 2000 (October): Pharmacia spun off its Monsanto subsidiary into a new company, the "new Monsanto".[46]As part of the deal, Monsanto agreed to indemnify Pharmacia against any liabilities that might be incurred from judgments against Solutia. As a result, the new Monsanto continues to be a party to numerous lawsuits that relate to operations of the old Monsanto. 2005: Monsanto acquired Emergent Genetics and its Stoneville and NexGen cotton brands. Emergent was the third largest U.S.cotton seed company, with about 12 percent of the U.S.market. Monsanto's goal was to obtain "a strategic cotton germplasm and traits platform."[47] 2007: In June, Monsanto completed its purchase of Delta and Pine Land Company, a major cotton seed breeder, for $1.5billion.[48]As a condition for approval of the purchase from theDepartment of Justice, Monsanto was obligated to divest its Stoneville cotton business, which it sold to Bayer, and to divest its NexGen cotton business, which it sold to Americot.[49]Monsanto also exited the pig breeding business by selling Monsanto Choice Genetics to Newsham Genetics LC in November, divesting itself of "any and all swine-related patents, patent applications, and all other intellectual property".[50] 2008: Monsanto purchased the Dutch seed company De Ruiter Seeds for 546 million,[51]and sold its POSILAC bovine somatotropin brand and related business to Elanco Animal Health, a division of Eli Lilly in August for $300million plus "additional contingent consideration".[52]Corporate governanceCurrent members of the board of directors of Monsanto are:David L. Chicoine, president ofSouth Dakota State University; Hugh Grant, the president and CEO of Monsanto; Arthur H. Harper, managing partner of GenNx360 Capital Partners;Gwendolyn King, president of Podium Prose, a speakers bureau; Laura K. Ipsen, seniorVP and general manager ofCONNECTEDEnergy Networks atCisco Systems,Inc., C.Steven McMillan, former chairman and CEO of theSara Lee Corporation; William U. Parfet, chief executive officer of MPI ResearchInc.; Janice L. Fields, president ofMcDonald's USA;George H. Poste, chief executive of Health Technology Networks; and Jon R. Moeller, chief financial officer ofThe Procter & Gamble Company.[53][54]Critics

Monsanto's productsMonsanto researches, manufactures and sells genetically modified seeds. Currently, 90 percent of all the world's cultivated Gen-manipulated come from Monsanto. There is criticism that the water and aquaculture businesses the company would aim to monopolize the resources vital to our survival and turn it into a market.Monsanto has reinforced its efforts to expand its market position in the production of food and seed, which is described by critics as a global monopoly. Some criticized the contractual commitment of farmers to the company, which forbids them to own harvest to use as seed again and allows extensive control of farmers to prevent patent infringement. It is also not permitted to farmers in case of conflict, to rule against third parties. Furthermore, these farmers must contractually agree in the case of crop and yield losses (eg, decline in fertility in breeding pigs) not to sue Monsanto.Monsanto buys numberous seed producers. The aim is obvious, even in this area to achieve a dominant position.In December 2013, Sofia Gatica was protesting Monsanto inArgentina. Monsanto's hired thugs threatened tomurderher if she continued protesting and then beat her to an inch of her life.[55]TheirGM foodsdon't necessarily thrive any better than real crops while they instead are toxic to the soil, polinating insects, and anything that eats the crops.[56]US government promotionIn March 2013 after protests outside the whitehouse and many mails to congress and presidentObama, they passed the "Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013" and Obama signed it. It contained text slipped in anonymously--that is correct lawmakers were allowed to anonymous slip things in to it--that Monsanto Corp had written themselves that prevented the courts from stopping their GMO foods (genetically modified foods). Obama had during his 2008 campaign promised to make it required that GMO foods were labeled and he never did so. The text by Monsanto was calledThe Monsanto Protection Act, althoubh Monsanto called it theFarmer Assurance Provision. There was major public backlash as the USA was supportive of Monsanto whereas other countries such Hungary and China banned GMO foods. On May 25, 2013, there was a nationwide protest of Monsanto held in major cities.[57][58][59]In July 2014, theUSgovernment pulled itsforeign aidtoEl Salvadorfor rejecting Monsanto'sGMOseeds. Monsanto's seeds both produce deadly crops and make farmers financially enslaved to Monsanto's patented seeds.[60][61]Obama also placed former Monsanto VP Michael R. Taylor as head of theFDA.Seed Regulation in the European UnionIn2014, the European Union banned all seeds notREGISTEREDwith the government, a move supporting Monsanto's GMO foods.[62]GalleryMonsanto food causes tumors inrats.GMO feed turns pig stomachs to mush! Shocking photos reveal severe damage caused byGM soy and corn.GMO corn exposed.Monsanto stock price 20002010.

MultimediaSee also Aspartame The Agricultural HolocaustReferences1. 1.01.11.21.31.42011 Annual Report, Form 10-K/A, Monsanto Company, Filing Date December 1, 2011. secdatabase.com. Retrieved on15 May 2010.2. 2011 Annual Report, Form 10-K, Monsanto Company, Filing Date November 14, 2011. secdatabase.com. Retrieved on15 May 2010.3. "Monsanto CFO to retire."St.Louis Business Journal. Wednesday 12 August 2009. Retrieved on 19 August 2009.4. SEC filings at Edgar5. Berry, Ian (26 June 2012)."Monsanto Digs Into Seeds".Wall Street Journal.6. Transgenic Crops: Introduction and Resoure Guide7. International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering, Inc., San Francisco/Bay Area Chapter Newsletter, Volume 13, No. 4 [www.ispe.org/san-francisco/sf-newsletter-vol13-no4.pdf A Brief History of Biotechnology in Northern California]8. Competition Issues in the Seed Industry and the Role of Intellectual Property. Choicesmagazine.org (21 November 2009). Retrieved on20 October 2012.9. Keith Schneider for the New York Times. 10 June 1990.BETTINGthe Farm on Biotech.[1]10. Esteban Burrone:Patents at the Core: the Biotech Business.WIPO, 200611. Economic Research Service/USDAThe Seed Industry in U.S. Agriculture: An Exploration of Data and Information on Crop Seed Markets, Regulation, Industry Structure, and Research and Development12. Regine Andersen:The History of Farmers' Rights. Fridtjof Nansen institute Report, August 200513. Vandana ShivaThe seed emergency: The threat to food and democracy, 06 Feb 2012,Aljazeera.14. Parsai, Gargi (5 February 2012)."Opposition to Monsanto patent on Indian melons".The Hindu(Chennai, India).15. Vidal, John.Biopirates who seek the greatest prizes.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved on2012-11-07.16. "AP: Monsanto Strong-Arms Seed Industry".CBS News. 14 December 2009. Retrieved 15 June 2010.17. Published: 15 September 2003 (15 September 2003).Unilever (Lever Brothers Co.) | AdAge Encyclopedia of Advertising - Advertising Age. Adage.com. Retrieved on20 October 2012.18. Photos and captions of destroyed factories19. Agribusiness, Biotechnology and War. Organicconsumers.org. Retrieved on28 October 2011.20. EPA.gov21. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2001/knowles-lecture.pdf22. PMID 16286647(PubMed)Citation will be completed automatically in a few minutes.Jump the queueorexpand by hand23. E. Fred Schubert (2003). "1",Light-Emitting Diodes. Cambridge University Press.ISBN 0-8194-3956-8.24. SPY Award Interview. Asse.org (16 April 1947). Retrieved on28 October 2011.25. http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/ob/docs/patexclnew.cfm?Appl_No=020998&Product_No=003&table1=OB_Rx26. Patent US5466823 - Substituted pyrazolyl benzenesulfonamides - Google Patents. Google.com. Retrieved on20 October 2012.27. Drug Approval Package: Celebrex (Celecoxib) NDA# 20-998. Accessdata.fda.gov. Retrieved on20 October 2012.28. Frank, Robert; Hensley, Scott (15 July 2002)."Pfizer to Buy Pharmacia For $60Billion in Stock".The Wall Street Journal.29. General information - Posilac. Monsanto (2007). Archived fromthe originalon1 January 2008. Retrieved on16 January 2008.30. http://www.biotechprofiles.com/companyfiles/madisonnetwork/c81a944349224f0984a586f89719edb6.pdf31. Press release for deal clearing antitrust review32. Cargill purchase report33. St. Louis Business Journal, 23 March 2005.Monsanto closes $1.4 billion buy of Seminis34. Monsanto Press Room. Monsanto.mediaroom.com (21 March 2007). Retrieved on20 October 2012.35. BASF-Gruppe: Interview Dr. Jrgen Hambrecht zur Zusammenarbeit mit Monsanto. Corporate.basf.com (21 March 2007). Retrieved on28 October 2011.36. Reasons for Selection, 2009 Canada's Top 100 Employers Competition.37. http://naturalsociety.com/monsanto-tries-patent-natural-non-gmo-tomatoes/38. Fox News Kills Monsanto Milk Story39. NY Times report40. Tribune report41. Troyer, A. Forrest.Development of Hybrid Corn and the Seed Corn Industry.In:Handbook of Maize Genetics and Genomics. Bennetzen, Jeff L.; Hake, Sarah (Eds.) Springer, 2009, pages 87114.42. New York Times report43. New York Times report on chemical spinoff44. New York Times report45. New York Times report46. "Monsanto Raises $700 Million in IPO".Los Angeles Times. 18 October 2000. Retrieved 25 November 2011.47. Monsanto to Acquire Emergent Genetics, Stoneville and NexGen Cotton Brands. Seed Today (17 February 2005). Retrieved on20 October 2012.48. Monsanto Company Completes Acquisition of Delta and Pine Land Company, Seeks Approval of Related Divestitures(1 June 2007). Retrieved on10 October 2009.49. Monsanto reaches agreement with Department of Justice to acqui. Hpj.com. Retrieved on20 October 2012.50. Monsanto Pig Patent(16 July 2009). Retrieved on10 October 2009.51. De Ruiter Seeds Acquisition(31 March 2008). Retrieved on10 October 2012.52. Eli Lilly and Company to Acquire Monsanto's POSILAC Brand Dairy Product and Related Business(20 August 2008). Retrieved on10 October 2009.53. Board of Directors. Monsanto.54. Monsanto Company Adds Jon R. Moeller to Board of Directors, Approves Dividend Increase to 30 Cents Per Share55. http://www.naturalnews.com/043152_Monsanto_physical_assault_Argentinians.html56. http://www.naturalnews.com/046758_GM_eggplant_Bangladesh_Monsanto.html57. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-simon/monsanto-protection-act_b_3327270.html58. http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/mpa.asp59. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/push-overturn-monsanto-protection-act-article-1.135217860. http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/07/26/u-s-government-to-pull-foreign-aid-in-el-salvador-for-refusing-monsanto-seeds/61. http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2014/06/13/monsanto-and-foreign-aid-forcing-el-salvadors-hand/62. http://healthydebates.com/european-commission-ban-heirloom-seeds-criminalize-plants-seeds-registered-government/External links Monsanto's Zionist agendaat Fitzgerald Informer Monsanto family were Jewish slave dealers and ownersatRense.com Jewish CEO of Monsanto forever perverted the world's food supply Jew-controlled Monsanto responsible at least 200,000 suicides in India past 10 yearsat CamelDog.com Genetically-modified Eggplant Found to be Unsafe for Human ConsumptionatGlobalResearch.ca Is Monsanto the World's Most Evil Corporation?at Mother Earth News Five reasons why Roundup should be banned forever

Archive for Emmanuel Mendes de MonsantoThe Monsanto Pandoras Box Nightmare of GMO Global Genocide: Unleashed and Irreversible.ByApollo Comments(0)Thursday,January12th,2012The USDA continues to grant Monsanto further power over itself, despite evidence linking Monsantos creations to health conditions and environmental devastation.Despite receiving nearly45,000 public comments voicing opposition and only 23 comments in favor since comments opened, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced during the Christmas-New Year holidays, the decision to deregulate two of Monsantos genetically modified seed varieties, giving the company a further grasp on the food supply of the nation. One of the modified corn seed varieties is engineered to resist drought conditions, and the other is an herbicide-resistant soybean that has been genetically engineered to produce more fatty acids.Research has found that Monsantos GMO crops, despite claims to be resistant to herbicides and pesticides, actuallyrequire significantly more harsh chemicals. This can only compound the clearly documented damaging health effects already known about GM crops.Dr Arpad Pusztai found that rats fed GM potatoes had smaller livers, hearts, testicles and brains, as well as damaged immune systems; they showed structural changes in their white blood cells, making them more vulnerable to infection and disease compared to other rats fed non-GM potatoes. It got worse. Thymus and spleen damage showed up, as did enlarged tissues, including the pancreas and intestines.There were cases of liver atrophy as well as significant proliferation of stomach and intestinal cells that could be a sign of greater future risk of cancer. Equally alarming was that all this happened after only 10 days of testing, and the changes persisted after 110 days thats the human equivalent of 10 years.-Jeffrey Smiths Seeds of DeceptionJeffrey M. Smith reveals in shocking detail the biotechnology industrys laundry list of perpetual crimes against humanity via its propagation of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs). Smith explains how biotech giant Monsanto, in particular, has rigged the entire system to push its deadly products on the populations of the world.Citing numerous scientists and former industry representatives that are now blowing the whistle in regards to the corruption, Smith sheds light on the fraudulent science that continues to be used to thrust GMOs on the public, and the revolving door between the biotech industry and politics that allows it to continue.He documents how consumption of genetically modified foods has been directly linked with reproductive problems, immune system deficiencies, accelerated ageing, organ damage and gastrointestinal problems. The immune system problem has been seen consistently in mice and rats who are fed GMO food, explains Smith, and now since humans have started consuming genetically modified foods, auto-immune diseases and allergies have increased.MonsantoMonsanto was founded in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1901, by John Francis Queeny, a 30-year veteran of the pharmaceutical industry. He funded the start-up with his ownMONEYand capital from a soft drink distributor, and gave the company his wifes maiden name. His father in law was Emmanuel Mendes de Monsanto, wealthy financier of a sugar company active in Vieques, Puerto Rico and based in St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies. The companys first product was the artificial sweetener saccharin, which it sold to the Coca-Cola Company. It also introduced caffeine and vanillin to Coca-Cola, and became one of that companys main suppliers.In 1919, Monsanto established its presence in Europe by entering into a partnership with Graessers Chemical Works at Cefn Mawr near Ruabon, Wales to produce vanillin, salicylic acid, aspirin and later rubber.In its third decade, the 1920s, Monsanto expanded into basic industrial chemicals like sulfuric acid, and the decade ended with Queenys son Edgar Monsanto Queeny taking over the company in 1928.The 1940s saw Monsanto become a leading manufacturer of plastics, including polystyrene, and synthetic fibers. Since then, it has remained one of the top 10 US chemical companies. Other major products have included the herbicides 2,4,5-T, DDT, and Agent Orange used primarily during the Vietnam War as a defoliant agent (later found to be contaminated during manufacture with highly carcinogenic dioxin), the artificial sweetener aspartame (NutraSweet), bovine somatotropin (bovine growth hormone (BST), and PCBs. Also in this decade, Monsanto operated the Dayton Project, and later Mound Laboratories in Miamisburg, Ohio, for the Manhattan Project, the development of the first nuclear weapons and, after 1947, the Atomic Energy Commission.Monsanto began manufacturing DDT in 1944, along with some 15 other companies. This insecticide was much-welcomed in the fight against malaria-transmitting mosquitoes. The use of DDT in the U.S. was banned by Congress in 1972, due in large part to efforts by environmentalists, who persisted in the challenge put forth by Rachel Carson and her book Silent Spring in 1962, which sought to inform the public of the side effects associated with DDT. As the decade ended, Monsanto acquired American Viscose from Englands Courtauld family in 1949.In 1954, Monsanto partnered with German chemical giant Bayer to form Mobay and market polyurethanes in the US.In the 1960s and 1970s, Monsanto became one of the most important producers of Agent Orange for US Military operations in Vietnam. Agent Orange caused an immense damage to health, also for US-soldiers, not at least by genetic modification.

Agent Orange Spraying VietnamIn 1980, Monsanto established the Edgar Monsanto Queeny safety award in honor of its former CEO (19281960), to encourage accident prevention.Monsanto scientists became the first to genetically modify a plant cell in 1982. Five years later, Monsanto conducted the first field tests of genetically engineered crops.Throughout 2004 and 2005, Monsanto filed lawsuits against many farmers in Canada and the U.S. on the grounds of patent infringement, specifically the farmers sale of seed containing Monsantos patented genes. In some cases, farmers claimed the seed was unknowingly sown by wind carrying the seeds from neighboring crops, a claim rejected in Monsanto Canada Inc. v. Schmeiser. These instances began in the mid to late 1990s, with one of the most significant cases being decided in Monsantos favor by the Canadian Supreme Court. By a 54 vote in late May 2004, that court ruled that by cultivating a plant containing the patented gene and composed of the patented cells without license, the appellants (canola farmer Percy Schmeiser) deprived the respondents of the full enjoyment of the patent. With this ruling, the Canadian courts followed the U.S. Supreme Court in its decision on patent issues involving plants and genes.Organic Farming, Dr. Pusztai, say no to GMO, Dr. Huber, Monsanto & the BIO-AG PhilosophyAs GMOs, Monsantos Roundup and government regulators continue to interfere in our quest for clean and pure food, Dr. Pusztai and Dr. Huber present the problems of today, and Murray Bast of www.Bio-Ag.com presents the solutions. Dr. Arpad Pusztai PhD speaks about the original GMO safety tests, and how he believes it would be unforgivable to use humanity as guinea pigs.GM Crops Farmer to FarmerIn a video called GM Crops Farmer to Farmer, Michael Hart, a Cornwall farmer, travels across the heartland of America talking to farmers about GM crops. The conclusion he comes to based on his interviews is that they are a con. The farmers get suckered into buying the seeds, find they dont perform as well as their natural seeds did and find it nearly impossible to switch back. In the meantime, the price of everything Monsanto goes up each year and they find it harder and harder to make a profit. These are ordinary American farmers who know their business and never suspected they were being conned until it was too late.Theres nothing they are leaving untouched: the mustard, the okra, the rice, the cauliflower. Once they have established the norm: that seed can be owned as their property, royalties can be collected. We will depend on them for every seed we grow of every crop we grow. If they control seed, they control food, they know it its strategic. Its more powerful than bombs. Its more powerful than guns. This is the best way to control the populations of the world. The story starts in the White House, where Monsanto often got its way by exerting disproportionate influence over policymakers via the revolving door. One example is Michael Taylor, who worked for Monsanto as an attorney before being appointed as deputy commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1991. While at the FDA, the authority that deals with all US food approvals, Taylor made crucial decisions that led to the approval of GE foods and crops. Then he returned to Monsanto, becoming the companys vice president for public policy.

Michael TaylorThanks to these intimate links between Monsanto and government agencies, the US adopted GE foods and crops without proper testing, without consumer labeling and in spite of serious questions hanging over their safety. Not coincidentally, Monsanto supplies 90 percent of the GE seeds used by the US market. Monsantos long arm stretched so far that, in the early nineties, the US Food and Drugs Agency even ignored warnings of their own scientists, who were cautioning that GE crops could cause negative health effects. Other tactics the company uses to stifle concerns about their products include misleading advertising, bribery and concealing scientific evidence.Is the US Forcing GMO Food on EuropeWilliam Engdahl, economic researcher, journalist, historian, and author of Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of GMO, offers his extensively researched wisdom on the subject.He explains that since G.W. Bush went to the World Trade Organization in 2003 and pressed a suit against the European Union for blocking the licensing and approval of GMO crops..the US government has made GMO seeds, patented from Dupont and Monsanto, a national security priority, tantamount to the export of defense weapons for the Pentagon and for the US budget. Its a national security export sector agribusiness, and especially GMO seeds.He further explains that the US government co-holds the patent with Monsanto on terminator seed technology!

Seeds of Destruction : Full Spectrum Dominance : William Engdahl Interview

Links & Sources: Monsanto, GMOs, and the global genocide of science and humanity Obama and His Abominable Appointment Slow Food Dublin Low Density Lifestyle Dr Arpad Pusztai by Jeffery Smith Health Risks of Genetically Modified Foods Monsanto A Multinational Factory of Death Seeds of Destruction A Review Natural News Monsanto Roundup Study Shows Monsanto Roundup Herbicide Link to Birth Defects Monsantos GMO Corn Approved Despite 45,000 Public Comments in Opposition Genetically Modified Foods: The Hidden Dangers Study Proves Three Monsanto GM Corn Varieties Pose Health Hazard Genetically Modified Soy Linked to Sterility and Infant Mortality Killing the Food Supply: The Dangers of Genetically Modified Food