|
Monsanto,
the world's dominant biotech company, is
one of the most controversial companies in the world.
The company that made Agent
Orange and PCBs has
gone to great lengths to make sure that North Americans
don't know whether their food has been genetically
engineered. Just what are they afraid of?
Check the links below to find out what
kind of trouble Monsanto has gotten itself into in recent
years.
From Washington Post article,
February 23, 2002, page A1:
"An Alabama jury yesterday found
that Monsanto Co. engaged in 'outrageous' behavior by
releasing tons of PCBs into the city of Anniston and
covering up its actions for decades, handing 3,500 local
residents a huge victory in a landmark environmental
lawsuit.
"The jury in Gadsden, Ala., a town
20 miles from Anniston, held Monsanto and its corporate
successors liable on all six counts it considered: negligence,
wantonness, suppression of the truth, nuisance, trespass
and outrage. Under Alabama law, the rare claim of outrage
typically requires conduct 'so outrageous in character
and extreme in degree as to go beyond all possible bounds
of decency so as to be regarded as atrocious and utterly
intolerable in civilized society.'" Read
the full story
Monsanto
hid decades of pollution / PCBs drenched Alabama town,
but no one was ever told -- Washington Post, Jan.
1, 2002
"The people are dying. Even the houses
are dying."
80-year-old African-American resident of Anniston, Alabama, while observing
the bulldozing of houses in his neighborhood as a result of PCB
contamination caused by a Monsanto factory
Anniston:
The people vs. Monsanto -- Guardian (UK), June
5, 2000. "Problem: Damage to the ecological system
by contamination from polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB).
Legal liability: Direct lawsuits are possible. The
materials are already present in nature having done
their "alleged damage". All customers using
the products have not been officially notified about
known effects nor [do] our labels carry this information." Memo
from Monsanto committee studying PCBs, 1969
Senators
assail EPA on Alabama PCB cleanup -- Washington
Post, April 20, 2002." A bipartisan Senate tagteam
piled on the Environmental Protection Agency yesterday
for its handling of PCB-saturated Anniston, Ala., blasting
Bush administration officials for conflicts of interest
and accusing the agency of ignoring the city's problems
for years."
Ashcroft
and his donors: Did Monsanto buy itself an attorney
general? -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 2, 2002. "As
a U.S. senator, John Ashcroft received more than $50,000
in campaign contributions from Monsanto and its spin-off
chemical company, Solutia Inc. So last week, when Attorney
General Ashcroft's Justice Department and Solutia announced
a deal for the cleanup of toxic PCBs in Alabama, the
people suing Solutia were quick to make a connection."
Monsanto
liable for the world's worst PCB contamination --
Monsanto Sucks.com, Feb. 2002
PCB
contamination trial against Monsanto, Solutia begins --
AP, Jan. 10, 2002
Report:
Anniston's Monsanto discharged mercury -- AP, July
23, 2001
The
inside story: Anniston, Alabama -- from Chemical
Industry Archives, a project of the Environmental Working
Group. "The Anniston Collection consists of 4,000
pages of court records and EPA Superfund documentation
concerning Monsanto's PCB poisoning of Anniston, Alabama."
Environmental
justice case study: The People of Anniston, Alabama
vs. Monsanto -- University of Michigan
Conspiracy
of silence / For more than 50 years, three of America's
largest corporations have known that PCBs are deadly.
But they were too busy making money to tell you --
Sierra Magazine, 1998
Monsanto's
PCBs to be here a long time / The damage spreads beyond
our borders -- Anniston Star.com opinion by John
Peterson Myers of ourstolenfuture.org.
Monsanto
hit big for PCB liability -- National Law Journal,
March 7, 1994. Jury verdict of $9.7 million in Transwestern
Pipeline Co. v. Monsanto Co.
Arctic
pollution causing polar bears to change sex --
Independent (UK), Oct. 2, 2002. "Polar bears,
Arctic foxes and Inuit peoples are under threat from
man-made toxins such as polychlorinated byphenyls (PCBs)
that build up in the food chain, new research reveals."
Kids
at risk -- U.S. News & World Report, June 19,
2000. "The studies strongly suggested that
substances like PCBs and mercury didn't just cause cancer or birth defects—the
only problems for which they were tested in the United States. They also
suggested that even at extremely low levels, these substances could affect
the developing human brain."
DDT

DDT:
a banned insecticide -- Oxford University Department
of Chemistry
Pesticide
Action Network UK section on DDT
DDT
and birds -- Stanford Alumni association
DDT
and Africa's war on malaria -- BBC, Nov. 26, 2001
DDT
use in U.S. linked to premature births in the 1960s --
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
press release, July 12, 2001
Extension
Toxicology Network write-up on DDT
Agribusiness,
biotechnology and war / Wartime profiteering and the
disturbing expansion of chemical agriculture --
tompaine.org article by author Brian Tokar, Sept. 2002
Taking
control of natural resources
GM
wheat portends disaster for Great Plains -- AlterNet,
Sept, 9, 2002. "If Monsanto and other biotech
companies succeed in their push to allow genetically
modified (called GE, GM or GMO) wheat on the market,
Leake is afraid he may see his profits based on decades
of work go down the drain."
Meet
the company that would privatize nature itself --
The Age, Australia, Dec. 15, 1998
Monsanto:
Visionary or architect of bioserfdom? / A global
socio-economic examination of genetically modified
organisms -- By Andrew Hund, Graduate Student
of Sociology at Humboldt State University
Monsanto
moves to control water resources & fish farming
in India & the Third World -- By Vandana Shiva,
June, 1999
An
interview with Dr. Vandana Shiva -- "The deeper
you can manipulate living structures, the more you
can control food and medicine"
Caring
in agriculture / We need to move away from the violence
of science -- Vandana Shiva, Resurgence. "Syugenta
and Monsanto are rushing ahead with the mapping and
patenting of the rice genome. If they could, they would
own rice and its genes, even though the 200,000 rice
varieties that give us diverse traits have been bred
and evolved by rice farmers of Asia collectively over
millennia. Their claim to inventing rice is a violence
against the integrity of biodiversity and life-forms;
it is a violence against the knowledge of Third World
farmers."
Letter
on Monsanto -- Vandana Shiva, The Hindu, May 1,
1999. "OVER THE past few years, Monsanto, a chemical
firm, has positioned itself as an agricultural company
through control over seed - the first link in the food
chain. Monsanto now wants to control water, the very
basis of life."
Monsanto
is now trying to establish its control over water --
Natural Law Party, Wessex

The
Common Ground Interview with John Robbins -- "When
Rachel Carson first wrote Silent Spring, a book which
started the environmental movement in this country
by exposing the dangers of pesticides, Monsanto tried
to destroy her. They mounted a tremendous advertising
campaign to discredit her and invalidate her work.
They wanted to ruin her in every possible way they
could. Now they are trying to do the same with me and
others who are voices for the common good and general
welfare."
Two
women of the soil / A tribute to Lady Eve Balfour and
Rachel Carson: inspirations to the organic movement --
Resurgence. "Many agrochemical companies launched
a serious offensive trying to rubbish her. One of the
most vocal critics was a name now familiar to most
of us — Monsanto. And among the attacks were
the predictable personal ones. Rachel Carson was denigrated
as an 'emotional female alarmist'".
Time
Magazine names Rachel Carson among top 100 scientists
and thinkers -- "A huge counterattack was
organized and led by Monsanto, Velsicol, American Cyanamid--indeed,
the whole chemical industry."
Industry
attacks on dissent: From Rachel Carson to Oprah --
Laura Orlando, AlterNet.org. "One chemical industry
leader, the Monsanto Company, has a long record of
going after its critics ... A billion-dollar company
when "Silent Spring" first appeared, Monsanto
published a parody of Carson's work, called 'The Desolate
Year,' in the October 1962 issue of Monsanto Magazine.
Since then, Monsanto has become a corporate role model
in sugar-coating unpalatable facts and silencing dissent."
Rachel
Carson’s Silent Spring and the Beginning of the
Environmental Movement in the United States -- "An
executive of the American Cyanamid Company complained,
'if man were to faithfully follow the teachings of
Miss Carson, we would return to the Dark Ages, and
the insects and diseases and vermin would once again
inherit the earth.' Chemical manufacturers began undertaking
a more aggressive public relations campaign to educate
the public on the benefits of pesticide use. Monsanto,
for example, published and distributed 5,000 copies
of a brochure "parodying" Silent Spring entitled
'The Desolate Year'..."
Reluctant
crusader -- Guardian (UK), May 18, 2002. "It
made no difference. Carson was well prepared for the
attacks; not only would she not be intimidated, she
even refused to go out of her way to defend her position,
saying the book could look after itself. "
Rachel
Carson's Silent Spring -- Environmental History
Review, 1993. "The president of Monsanto Corporation
set the tone of the ensuing debate, calling Carson
'a fanatic defender of the cult of the balance of nature.'"
Corporate
junk science in the media -- by Edward S. Herman
The
revolving door: Are Monsanto and the government too
cozy?A
growing concern / As biotech crops come to
market, neither scientists - who take industry
money - nor federal regulators are adequately
protecting consumers and farmers -- Mother
Jones, January 1997
The
revolving door: Monsanto employees and government regulatory
agencies are the same people! -- MonsantoSucks.com,
1999
Monsanto
and G.W. Bush administration: Who will own the store? --
Robert Cohen of notmilk.com
The
world recoils at Monsanto's brave new crops / The St.
Louis company's political clout has turned the president
and Cabinet secretaries into pitchmen -- St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, Dec. 28, 1998. "A $ 7.5 billion
company with 25,000 employees needs to be well-connected,
and Monsanto works to keep it that way. The company
plies political parties equally and recruits people
with deep ties in Washington. By virtue of a friendly
relationship between Monsanto chief operating officer
Robert B. Shapiro and Clinton, Monsanto is identified
in Washington as 'a Democratic company.'"
AspartameAspartame
is NOT safe -- dorway.com. From the author: "DORway
is my WAY of paying back the Internet for the small,
hard-to-find (and oblique) article that I almost didn't
read... but that literally saved my life. That file was
the 1996 FDA list of 92
symptoms of aspartame poisoning. It saved my life
where 21 of 21 clueless doctors had failed over a period
of ELEVEN years.. "
Aspartame
(Nutrasweet) toxicity info center
Abuse
of the scientific method seen in Monsanto Aspartame
research -- holisticmed.com
sweetpoison.com -- "The
danger of aspartame exposed!"
A
tale of two sweeteners: Aspartame & stevia --
by Gail Davis. "For more than 20 years, a war
has been silently waging in this country. The battlefield
is the billion dollar artificial sweetener industry.
The combatants are the giant agri-chemical industry
and its allied forces, the FDA against a handful of
small private companies and concerned citizens on the
other. The casualties are the 200 million men, women,
and children who regularly consume more than 5,000
food products artificially sweetened with saccharin,
acesulfame k, and aspartame."
SaccharinSaccharin
still poses cancer risk, scientists tell federal agency --
Center for Science in the Public Interest press release,
1997
The
history, synthesis, metabolism and uses of artificial
sweeteners -- Emory University
Saccharin
not a cancer agent, expert panel says -- CNN, 1998. "The
Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer
health group, criticized the decision, saying government
regulators are being unduly influenced by the diet-food
industry."
Panel
recommends that saccharin remain on U.S. list of carcinogens --
National Institutes of Health press release, 1997
Roundup
From Pesticide
Action Network North America (PANNA):
Roundup—Roundup (active ingredient
glyphosate) is Monsanto’s flagship weed killer
(or herbicide), accounting for 67% of the company’s
total sales or about $2.6 billion annually.1 The amount
of Roundup sold has grown by around 20% each year over
the past five years.2 Monsanto has expanded its capacity
to produce Roundup nearly five-fold since 1992.3
While Monsanto maintains that Roundup
is safe, many others disagree, including the New York
State Attorney General. Based on its investigation, the
Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit arguing
that the company’s advertising inaccurately portrayed
Monsanto’s glyphosate-containing products as safe
and as not causing any harmful effects to people or the
environment. As part of an out-of-court settlement, Monsanto
agreed to discontinue use of terms such as “biodegradable” and “environmentally
friendly” in all advertising of glyphosate-containing
products in New York state and paid US$50,000 toward
the state’s costs of pursuing the case.4
There are a number of environmental and
human health problems associated with glyphosate. For
example, in studies of people (mostly farmers) exposed
to glyphosate, exposure is associated with an increased
risk of miscarriages, premature birth and the cancer,
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.5
In one case, Monsanto paid a US$225,000
fine for having mislabeled Roundup containers on 75 separate
occasions. It was the largest settlement ever paid for
violation of U.S. Worker Protection Standards. The labels
had claimed that the restricted entry period after application
of Roundup was four, rather than the actual 12 hours.6
Notes
1 Agrow: World Crop Protection News, March 2, 2001.
2 Agrow: World Crop Protection News, January 1, 2000.
3 Monsanto, “A Single Focus,” 2000 Annual Report, http://www.monsanto.com.
4 “Monsanto Agrees to Change Ads and EPA Fines Northrup King,” PANUPS,
January 10, 1997; “Monsanto Strategies,” The Guardian (UK),
September 17, 1997.
5 Herbicide Factsheet: Glyphosate (Roundup), Journal of Pesticide Reform,
Fall 1998, updated November 1998. (http://www.pesticide.org)
6 “EPA reaches settlement with Monsanto over labeling violations,” EPA
press release, March 24, 1998.
Monsanto
booms - but is heavily dependent on Roundup --
New York Times, Aug. 2, 2001
Studies
show Roundup herbicide to be hormone disruptor --
CropChoice News, Sept. 25, 2002
Controversial
milk: Bovine Growth Hormone The
dairy debate: Bovine Growth Hormone
Milk,
rBGH and cancer -- Rachel's Environment & Health
Weekly, #593, April 9, 1998
Milk
and the cancer connection -- by Hans R. Larsen,
MSc ChE
Monsanto
concealed potential rBGH hazards from public --
Rachel's Environment & Health Weekly, #621, October
22, 1998
Monsanto's
hormonal milk poses serious risk of breast cancer --
by Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., Professor of Environmental
Medicine at the University of Illinois School of Public
Health
Terminator
Seeds Monsanto
terminator technology: Worldwide famine & starvation --
ethicalinvesting.com
Monsanto's
genetically modified seeds threaten world production --
projectcensored.org's top 25 censored stories of 1998
Monsanto
puts terminator seeds on the shelf -- Environment
News Service, Oct. 6, 1999
Web
sites
Corporate
Watch -- profile of Monsanto, including
sections on influence and lobbying, corporate
crimes, and more
Monsanto:
World's most unethical and harmful investment --
ethicalinvesting.com
Monsanto's
World Wide Web of Deceit
Monsatan:
Famine * Plague * Despair -- "Santa or Satan?
You decide!" Home of the downloadable song, Food
'n' Health 'n' Hope
Monsanto
Corporation Sucks
Monsanto
vs. Schmeiser -- "Percy Schmeiser is a farmer
from Bruno, Saskatchewan Canada whose Canola fields
were contaminated with Monsanto's Round-Up Ready Canola.
Monsanto's position is that it doesn't matter whether
Schmeiser knew or not that his canola field was contaminated
with the Roundup Ready gene and that he must pay their
Technology Fee."
Monsanto
in the McSpotlight -- From the McSpotlight web
site
Monsanto's
Crimes -- "Site Aims: to promote concerns
where Monsanto actions are detrimental to the environment,
and where Monsanto tries to silence such critical exposure.
Foxbghsuit.com:
Hidden danger in your milk? Reporters win lawsuit to
thwart Monsanto/Fox TV cover up -- Web site of
news reporters Jane Akre and Steve Wilson. "Here
you will find behind-the-scenes details about how a
large share of America’s milk supply has quietly
become adulterated with the effects of a synthetic
hormone (bovine growth hormone, or BGH) secretly injected
into cows…and how pressure from the hormone maker
Monsanto led Fox TV to fire two of its award-winning
reporters and sweep under the rug much of what they
discovered but were never allowed to broadcast."
Organic
Consumers Association -- News articles and more
about Monsanto
Play
the Monsanto shell game / Can you track down Monsanto? --
Environmental Working Group. "When big companies
get enough bad publicity what do they do? They change
their name, of course ... or do they?"
|
|
Ghost
town: Times Beach, Missouri From PRWatch.org: "Monsanto's
past record as a chemical manufacturer does
not inspire confidence in its environmental
stewardship. Witness Times Beach, Missouri.
The town was so contaminated with dioxin that
in 1982 the federal government ordered it to
be evacuated. Monsanto has continually denied
any connection with the catastrophe, yet laboratory
documents were found showing that large concentrations
of PCBs in town soil samples were manufactured
by Monsanto."
Why
is EPA ignoring Monsanto? -- Rachel's Environment & Health
Weekly, #563, Sept. 11, 1997
Venting
anger: Another accidental release of dioxin at Times
Beach heats up debate over the incinerator's safety --
Riverfront Times, St. Louis, May 15, 1996
Dangerous
ground: PCB contamination continues to be overlooked
or denied by public regulators and Monsanto --
St. Louis Riverfront Times, Feb. 14, 1996. "First,
hundreds of birds started dropping from the rafters
like so many miners' canaries. Then dogs and cats
began to die. By September 1971, seven horses had
perished at the Shenandoah Stables in Moscow Mills,
Mo. Before the scourge abated, scores more would
die."
Dioxins

Center
for Health, Environment and Justice dioxin pages --
Resources include dioxin news, science updates, dioxin
contaminated communities and more.
Chemicals
that won't go away -- National Wildlife Federation
Criminal
investigation of Monsanto Corporation -- EPA
memo
Dioxin
home page -- Articles and resources
Our
Stolen Future -- "This is the official website
for Our Stolen Future, the book that brought world-wide
attention to scientific discoveries revealing that
common contaminants can interfere with the natural
signals controlling development of the fetus."
Agent
Orange
Agent
Orange: The poisoning of Vietnam -- The Ecologist,
1998. "Monsanto was heavily involved in, and
was the major financial beneficiary of one of the
most shocking scandals of our age."
Monsanto's
Agent Orange: The persistent ghost from the Vietnam
War -- by Meryl Nass, MD
The
legacy of Agent Orange
Monsanto
protects itself from product liability -- Rachel's
Hazardous Waste News, #383, March 31, 1994
Agent
Orange: The poisoning of New Zealand
The
Agent Orange Trials -- Multinational Monitor,
1991
Can
we trust the maker of Agent Orange to genetically
engineer our food?
Monsanto
and the 'drug war' -- Earth Island Journal, Winter
2001-2002. "Agent Orange Redux?"
US
in no hurry to resolve Agent Orange legacy --
Asia Times, March 19, 2002
Agent
Orange no mystery for some Vietnam children --
Reuters, 2002
Monsanto
vs. Schmeiser -- Percy Schmeiser is a farmer
from Bruno, Saskatchewan Canada whose Canola fields
were contaminated with Monsanto's Round-Up Ready
Canola. Monsanto's position is that it doesn't
matter whether Schmeiser knew or not that his canola
field was contaminated with the Roundup Ready gene
and that he must pay their Technology Fee.
Percy
Schmeiser vs. Monsanto -- news links from biotech-info.net
Monsanto's
biotech bullying continues -- ISIS, Oct. 4, 2001. "Giant
agbiotech companies such as Monsanto are aggressively
imposing a new form of serfdom on North American
farming practices. By patenting both naturally occurring
gene sequences and genetically modified forms of
life, Monsanto can use aggressive lawsuits to ward
off any potential rival. At the same time, insidious
forms of surveillance and barely concealed threats
are whittling away any options farmers have for getting
seeds from other suppliers."
Blowin'
in the wind -- CBC TV's coverage of Monsanto
vs. Percy Schmeiser
Corporate
screw job: Monsanto vs. Percy Schmeiser
Lotsa
Bull -- populist.com article by Margot Ford McMillen. "Monsanto
has now admitted that canola seed --including, perhaps,
the seed planted by Schmeiser's neighbor --contains
genetic material that should never have left the
laboratory. That's right. Monsanto's canola seed
planted in Canada and the US contained "GT200," a
gene that was never approved for human consumption.
Monsanto says it never sold GT200-seed in Canada
and wonders how it got there. Clearly, Monsanto can't
keep the biotech bull on its side of the fence."
Can
I see your license for those plants, sir? --
slashdot.org
Monsanto
sues Midwest farmers for saving soybean seeds --
Columbia (Missouri) Daily Tribune, April 5, 2000
Canadian
TV documents Monsanto bullying of farmers --
CBC TV, January 10, 2002
Monsanto
continues persecuting farmers -- CropChoice News,
May 21, 2001
Monsanto
used private eye, spies to check on Saskatchewan
farmers -- Canadian Press wire, June 6, 2000
Mississippi
farmer fights Monsanto over seed saving -- CropChoice
News, April 6, 2001
Nelson
Farm - A fight against a giant -- Monsanto sues
North Dakota
farmer over biotech crop dispute
Monsanto's
legal thuggery -- Adbusters article by Michael
Colby, 1998
Monsanto
and Fox and consumers' right to know -- The Global
Citizen. "Well here's a howdy-do. TV station
in Florida prepares hard-hitting series questioning
safety of grocery-store milk. Large biotech company
threatens station with libel suit. Station cancels
broadcast, orders reporters to rewrite series. Reporters
refuse. Station fires reporters. Reporters sue station."
General
Articles/Links
Biotech
behemoth in serious trouble / Monsanto admits
to mistakes -- Washington Post, Nov. 1,
1999. "The face on the giant video screen
looming above the hotel conference room
was drawn and ashen. Robert Shapiro, chief executive of Monsanto Co.,
was
admitting corporate sin to his worst adversaries. 'We have probably irritated
and antagonized more people than we have persuaded,' he told a conference
organized by Greenpeace, the environmental group. 'Our confidence in
this technology and our enthusiasm for it has, I think, been widely seen
- and understandably so - as condescension or indeed arrogance.'"
What
else don't they know? / Monsanto reveals that GM
soybeans contain 'unexpected gene fragments' --
by Craig Winters, The Campaign to Label Genetically
Engineered Foods
Biotechnology
food: From the lab to a debacle -- New York Times,
Jan. 25, 2001. Gigantic expose detailing how Monsanto
has bungled its job of promoting genetically engineered
foods, even though it wields enormous power in Washington,
D.C.
Playing
God in the garden / Fried, mashed or zapped with
DNA -- New York Times Magazine article by Michael
Pollan, 1998, about Monsanto and the pesticidal potato
Canadian
organic farmers sue Monsanto for genetic pollution --
Independent Dispatch, Saskatchewan, Jan. 11, 2002
A
biological apocalypse averted -- Earth Island
Journal (Winter 2001-02) excerpts from John Robbins'
book, The Food Revolution. "...the
scientists discovered something else in these experiments,
something that sent chills down their spines. They
found that the genetically modified bacteria were
able to persist in the soil, raising the possibility
that, had it been released, the genetically engineered
Klebsiella could have become established - and virtually
impossible to eradicate."
The
fake persuaders / Corporations are inventing people
to rubbish their opponents on the Internet --
The Guardian column by George Monbiot, May 14, 2002. "Monsanto
knows better than any other corporation the costs
of visibility. Its clumsy attempts, in 1997, to persuade
people that they wanted to eat GM food all but destroyed
the market for its crops. Determined never to make
that mistake again, it has engaged the services of
a firm which knows how to persuade without being
seen to persuade."
Corporate
ties and campus labs -- Christian Science Monitor
article, June 19, 2001. "The credibility of
university research is on the line as industry steps
up its funding."
Italian
police raid illegal Monsanto GM stockpile --
BBC, March 28, 2001
Biotech
soybeans plant seed of risky revolution -- Los
Angeles Times, July 1, 2001. "The experience
of biotech soy also points up the lack of federal
regulation, especially compared with other countries.
The soy appeared in processed food even before the
manufacturers knew it was there. And though Monsanto
conducted extensive safety tests, critics warn that
they were inadequate and raise questions about the
enormous economic power that a company such as Monsanto
wields in this new world."
Monsanto:
A profile of corporate arrogance -- by Brian
Tokar for Say No to GMOs.org
Monsanto's
greatest hits / As industrial and chemical innovations
of the 20th century came and went, Monsanto was there --
San Jose Metro, May 11, 2000. "1986--Monsanto
found guilty of negligently exposing a worker to
benzene at its Chocolate Bayou Plant in Texas. It
is forced to pay $100 million to the family of Wilbur
Jack Skeen, a worker who died of leukemia after repeated
exposures. "
Monsanto
doesn't love you -- saviorass.com
Monsanto
corporate fact sheet (Available also as a printable
PDF file) -- Pesticide Action Network North America
(PANNA). "Monsanto is known for producing the
dioxin-containing defoliant Agent Orange, which was
used extensively in the Vietnam War; for forcing
the evacuation of the community of Times Beach, Missouri,
by contaminating it with dioxin; and for refusing
to accept full responsibility for the PCB contamination
of an Alabama town. Monsanto has also gained notoriety
for suing a Canadian farmer who unintentionally grew
genetically engineered (GE) Roundup Ready canola
after pollen from GE seeds drifted into his fields
and contaminated his crop. Monsanto’s disregard
for corporate social responsibility is summed up
in a quote from Phil Angell, Monsanto’s director
of corporate communications, to the New York Times,
October 25, 1998:'“Monsanto should not have
to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food. Our interest
is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring
its safety is [the U.S. Food and Drug Administration]’s
job.'"
Monsanto
is evil -- "These guys are so evil, it's
hard to even describe. Monsanto apparently hired
a PR company whose employees pretended to be scientists
in order to discredit work that made Monsanto look
bad."
African
scientists condemn Monsanto's latest tactics and
call for European support -- Press release, 1998. "More
than 24 leading African agriculturalists and environmental
scientists representing their countries at the UN
have issued a statement to counter Monsanto's arguments.
They say Monsanto is using the poor to emotionally
blackmail skeptical Europeans by making claims that
are blatantly untrue and unproven."
Subvertise.org --
Links to spoof advertisements and graphics such as "Monsanto's
Beast Milk" and "Monsanto's beef chunks in
a steroid sauce"
Leopards
changing spots or foxes in the hen house? / Monsanto
officials join leading consumer, environmental groups --
Corporate Crime Reporter (Volume 13, Number 19, May
10, 1999, page 1)
Global
opposition causes Monsanto to face uncertain future --
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Nov. 14, 1999
Monsanto
gets pie in the face -- The Global Citizen, Donella
Meadows column, March 18, 1999. "As near as
I can tell, one trouble with Monsanto is that it
is full of brilliant geneticists with no sense of
ecology. So serious concerns about the effects of
transgenic crops in nature -- the inevitable development
of resistance, the possible spread of traits that
should not spread -- are waved away."
Monsanto's
canola seed contaminated with unapproved varieties --
Center for Food Safety press release, April 17, 2002. "This
is genetic pollution of our food supply," explained
Joseph
Mendelson, Legal Director for the Center for Food Safety. "And now
Monsanto and Aventis are asking the USDA for a cover-up. We are
demanding a full criminal investigation of two the companies, and an
inquiry into USDA's actions in not making this matter public."
Biotechnology
corporate giants -- CBC TV, 1999. "Since
the time the company was founded in 1901, it has
produced a number of industrial-use products that
in the course of events have been proven to be toxic
to human and animal health and the environment."
The
Kenmer Brief / Monsanto is striving to take over
the world by taking over the biology of food production.
They promise us it's perfectly safe. But the company
has a disturbing history that is not being reported
in the media -- A Planet Waves special report,
1999
Monsanto:
A checkered history -- The Ecologist, Sept./Oct.
1998
Monsanto's
public relations boomerang -- Synthesis/Regeneration
18 (1999). "Nineteen ninety-eight was a hell
of a year for Monsanto and for Monsanto watchers.
The company that environmental activists love to
hate rolled out a worldwide blitz designed to put
a happy face on agricultural biotechnology. But its
clumsy efforts often seemed only to further fuel
anti-Monsanto anger."
Monsanto:
The chemical giant experimenting with our food --
A Greenpeace Report, 1997
Monsanto
leaked memo reveals global scope of Frankenfoods --
Genewatch UK, Aug. 17, 2000
Monsanto
makes pledge to appease critics -- Reuters, Nov.
27, 2000
Monsanto
under attack / Setbacks from Brazil, to Canada, to
the U.K. -- In Motion magazine, Nov. 9, 1998
New
Monsanto and GMO propaganda -- Le Monde diplomatique,
July, 2001. "Multinationals like Monsanto are
facing real grassroots opposition in the world, especially
over agro-chemicals and GMOs. Monsanto has led the
big corporations towards diversionary tactics: they
have issued codes of conduct and ethical charters
to conceal their real objective of creating value
for their shareholders. They are promoting their
products as cures
for third world hunger and disease, and as an alternative to the dangers
of pesticides. They hope to win over a hostile public with advertising."
Seeds
of death / Farmers in India are fighting to ban Monsanto's
GM cotton -- Organic Consumers Association. "As
Americans continue to consume large quantities of
genetically modified foods, farmers across the globe
are rising up to block biotech corporations
like Monsanto from pushing engineered crops into their countries."
Toxic
drift: Monsanto and the drug war in Columbia --
CorpWatch, June 21, 2001
Amazing
disgrace: Monsanto up to its old dirty tricks again --
The Ecologist, May 2002
No
new chemical wonders until they clean up the old
ones -- Keene Sentinel (NH) column by John Peterson
Myers, July 1, 2000. "Monsanto, a company that
desperately needs to convince the public that genetically
modified organisms represent a boon and not a bane
for humanity, had an opportunity recently to demonstrate
its good intentions regarding another of its products.
Unfortunately the corporation did nothing, leaving
the world to wonder whether its pretensions of good
citizenship are fiction."
The
Monsanto machine / Is Monsanto sowing the seeds of
change or destruction? -- Resurgence, Issue 195,
by Jennifer Kahn. "Monsanto once manufactured
virtually all the world’s PCBs — as well
as Agent Orange. But, these days, “life sciences” are
more profitable than chemical weapons, so, in 1997,
Monsanto spun off its chemical division and has,
since 1996, spent $6 billion acquiring seed companies
like Cargill International Seed ($1.4 billion) and
DeKalb Genetics ($2.3 billion)."
The
Monsanto Machine -- In These Times article by
Jeffrey St. Clair, March 7, 1999. "Monsanto
always has been able to count on the aid of the U.S.
government to sedulously promote its products. With
the ceaseless encouragement of the Department of
Agriculture, American farmers have planted more than
50 million acres of Monsanto's genetically engineered
crops over the past four years. The Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has also played along, acceding
to the company's demand that genetically engineered
crops not be labeled as such."
|