When you take a moment to reflect on the history of product
development at Monsanto, what do you find? Here are twelve products that
Monsanto has brought to market. See if you can spot the pattern…
#1 – Saccharin
Did you know Monsanto got started because of an artificial sweetener?
John Francisco Queeny founded Monsanto Chemical Works in St. Louis,
Missouri with the goal of
producing saccharin for Coca-Cola. In stark contrast to its sweet beginnings,
studies performed during the early 1970s,* including a study by the
National Cancer Institute in 1980, showed that saccharin caused
cancer in test rats and mice.
After mounting pressure from consumers, the
Calorie Control Council, and manufacturers of artificial sweeteners and diet sodas, along with
additional studies
(several conducted by the sugar and sweetener industry) that reported
flaws in the 1970s studies, saccharin was delisted from the NIH’s
Carcinogen List. A variety of letters from
scientists advised against delisting; the official document includes the
following wording to
this day: “although it is impossible to absolutely conclude that it
poses no threat to human health, sodium saccharin is not reasonably
anticipated to be a human carcinogen under conditions of general usage
as an artificial sweetener.” (*Read the Chemical Heritage Foundation’s
History of Saccharin here.)
#2 – PCBs
During the early 1920s, Monsanto began expanding their chemical
production into polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to produce
coolant fluids for electrical transformers, capacitors, and electric
motors. Fifty years later,
toxicity tests began reporting
serious health effects from PCBs in laboratory rats exposed to the chemical.
After another decade of studies, the truth could no longer be contained: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
published a report
citing PCBs as the cause of cancer in animals, with additional evidence
that they can cause cancer in humans. Additional peer-reviewed health
studies showed a causal link between exposure to PCBs and non-Hodgkin
Lymphoma, a frequently fatal form of cancer.
In 1979, the United States Congress recognized PCBs as a significant
environmental toxin and persistent organic pollutant, and banned its
production in the U.S. By then Monsanto already had manufacturing
plants abroad, so they weren’t entirely stopped until the Stockholm
Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants banned PCBs globally in
2001.
And that’s when Monsanto’s duplicity was uncovered:
internal company memos from 1956 surfaced, proving that Monsanto had known about dangers of PCBs from early on.
In 2003, Monsanto paid out over $600 million to residents of
Anniston, Alabama, who experienced severe health problems including
liver disease, neurological disorders and cancer after
being exposed to PCBs — more than double the payoff that was awarded in
the case against Pacific Gas & Electric made famous by the movie
“Erin Brockovich.”
And yet the damage persists: nearly 30 years after PCBs have been
banned from the U.S., they are still showing up in the blood of pregnant
women, as
reported in a 2011 study by the University of California San Francisco.
#3 – Polystyrene
In 1941, Monsanto began focusing on plastics and synthetic polystyrene, which is still widely used in food packaging and
ranked 5th in the EPA’s 1980s listing of chemicals whose production generates the most total hazardous waste.
#4 – Atom bomb and nuclear weapons
Shortly after acquiring Thomas and Hochwalt Laboratories, Monsanto turned this division into their
Central Research Department. Between 1943 to 1945, this department coordinated key production efforts of the
Manhattan Project—including plutonium purification and production and, as part of the Manhattan Project’s
Dayton Project, techniques to refine chemicals used as triggers for atomic weapons (an era of U.S. history that sadly included the
deadliest industrial accident).
#5 – DDT
In 1944, Monsanto became one of the first manufacturers of the
insecticide DDT to combat malaria-transmitting mosquitoes. Despite
decades of Monsanto propaganda insisting that DDT was safe, the true
effects of DDT’s toxicity were at last confirmed through outside
research and in 1972, DDT was banned throughout the U.S.
This chart illustrates how much dioxin an average American consumes per day
#6 – Dioxin
In 1945, Monsanto began promoting the use of chemical pesticides in
agriculture with the manufacture of the herbicide 2,4,5-T (one of the
precursors to Agent Orange), containing dioxin. Dioxins are a group of
chemically-related compounds that since become known as one of the “
Dirty Dozen”
— persistent environmental pollutants that accumulate in the food
chain, mainly in the fatty tissue of animals. In the decades since it
was first developed, Monsanto has been accused of covering up or failing
to report dioxin contamination in a wide range of its products.
#7 – Agent Orange
During the early 1960s, Monsanto was one of the two primary
manufacturers of Agent Orange, an herbicide / defoliant used for
chemical warfare during the Vietnam War. Except Monsanto’s formula had
dioxin levels many times higher than the Agent Orange produced by Dow
Chemicals, the other manufacturer (which is why Monsanto was the key
defendant in the lawsuit brought by Vietnam War veterans in the United
States).
(Pictured at left, Anh and Trang Nhan, with their father, when they
first arrived at the Hoi An Orphanage; below are the same brothers
shortly before Trang’s death. Source:
Kianh Foundation Newsletter, Dec. 2011)
As
a result of the use of Agent Orange, Vietnam estimates that over
400,000 people were killed or maimed, 500,000 children were born with
birth defects, and up to 1 million people were disabled or suffered from
health problems—not to mention the far-reaching impact it had on the
health of over 3 million American troops and their offspring.
Internal Monsanto memos show that Monsanto knew of the problems of
dioxin contamination of Agent Orange when it sold it to the U.S.
government for use in Vietnam. Despite the widespread health impact,
Monsanto and Dow were allowed to appeal for and receive financial
protection from the U.S. government against veterans seeking
compensation for their exposure to Agent Orange.
In 2012, a long 50 years after Agent Orange was deployed, the
clean-up effort has finally begun. Yet the legacy of Agent Orange, and successive generations of
body deformities,
will remain in
orphanages throughout VietNam for decades to come.
(Think that can’t happen here?
Two crops were recently genetically engineered to withstand a weedkiller made with one of the major components of Agent Orange,
2,4-D, in order to combat “super weeds” that evolved due to the excessive use of RoundUp.)
8 – Petroleum-Based Fertilizer
In 1955, Monsanto began manufacturing petroleum-based fertilizer after purchasing a major oil refinery.
Petroleum-based fertilizers can kill beneficial soil micro-organisms,
sterilizing the soil and creating a dependence, like an addiction, to
the synthetic replacements. Not the best addiction to have, considering
the rising cost and dwindling supply of oil…
#9 – RoundUp
During the early 1970s, Monsanto founded their Agricultural
Chemicals division with a focus on herbicides, and one herbicide in
particular: RoundUp (glyphosate). Because of its ability to eradicate
weeds literally overnight, RoundUp was quickly adopted by farmers. Its
use increased even more when Monsanto introduced “RoundUp Ready”
(glyphosate-resistant) crops, enabling farmers to saturate the entire
field with weedkiller without killing the crops.
While glyphosate has been approved by regulatory bodies worldwide and
is widely used, concerns about its effects on humans and the
environment persist. RoundUp has been found in samples of
groundwater, as well as
soil, and even in
streams and air throughout the Midwest U.S., and increasingly in food. It has been linked to
butterfly mortality, and the proliferation of
superweeds.
Studies in rats have shown consistently negative health impacts ranging
from tumors, altered organ function, and infertility, to cancer and
premature death. Reference the above “
GMO Risks” page which includes countless references to support these statements.
#10 – Aspartame (NutraSweet / Equal)
An accidental discovery during research on gastrointestinal hormones
resulted in a uniquely sweet chemical: aspartame. During the clinical
trials conducted on 7 infant monkeys as part of aspartame’s application
for FDA approval, 1 monkey died and 5 other monkeys had grand mal
seizures—yet somehow aspartame was still approved by the FDA in 1974. In
1985, Monsanto acquired the company responsible for aspartame’s
manufacture (G.D. Searle) and began marketing the product as NutraSweet.
Twenty years later, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
released a report listing
94 health issues caused by aspartame. (Watch a
quick video here.)
#11 – Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH)
This genetically modified hormone was developed by Monsanto to be
injected into dairy cows to produce more milk. Cows subjected to rBGH
suffer excruciating pain due to swollen udders and
mastitis, and the
pus from the resulting infection
enters the milk supply requiring the use of additional antibiotics. rBGH milk has been linked to
breast cancer,
colon cancer, and
prostate cancer in humans.
#12 – Genetically Modified Crops / GMOs
In the early 1990s, Monsanto began gene-splicing corn, cotton, soy,
and canola with DNA from a foreign source to achieve one of two traits:
an internally-generated pesticide, or an internal resistance to
Monsanto’s weedkiller RoundUp. Despite decades of promises that
genetically engineered crops would feed the world with more nutrients,
drought resistance, or yield, the
majority of Monsanto’s profits are from seeds that are engineered to tolerate Monsanto’s RoundUp—an ever-rising, dual income stream as
weeds continue to evolve resistance to RoundUp.
Most sobering however, is that the world is once again buying into Monsanto’s “safe” claims.
Just like the early days of PCBs, DDT, Agent Orange, Monsanto has
successfully fooled the general public and regulatory agencies into
believing that RoundUp, and the genetically modified crops that help
sell RoundUp, are “safe.”
Except Monsanto has learned a thing or two in the past 100+ years of
defending its dirty products: these days, when a new study proving the
negative health or environmental impacts of GMOs emerges, Monsanto
attacks the study and its scientist(s) by flooding the media with
counter claims from “independent” organizations, scientists, industry
associations, blogs, sponsored social media, and articles by “private”
public relations firms—frequently founded, funded and maintained by
Monsanto.
Unfortunately, few of us take the time to trace the members,
founders, and relationships of these seemingly valid sources back to
their little Monsanto secret. (Read more
on this page.)
Fooling the FDA required a slightly different approach: click on the below chart compiled by
Millions Against Monsanto
to see how many former Monsanto VPs and legal counsel are now holding
positions with the FDA. And don’t forget Clarence Thomas, former
Monsanto attorney who is now a Supreme Court Justice, ruling in favor of
Monsanto in every case brought before him.
A Baker’s Dozen: #13 – Terminator Seeds
In the late 1990s, Monsanto developed the technology to produce sterile grains unable to germinate. These “
Terminator Seeds”
would force farmers to buy new seeds from Monsanto year after year,
rather than save and reuse the seeds from their harvest as they’ve been
doing throughout centuries. Fortunately this technology never came to
market. Instead, Monsanto chose to require farmers to sign a contract
agreeing that they will not save or sell seeds from year to year, which
forces them to buy new seeds and preempts the need for a “terminator
gene.” Lucky for us… since the terminator seeds were capable of
cross-pollination and could have contaminated local non-sterile crops.
What’s the Result of our Monsanto Legacy?
Between
75% to 80% of the processed food
you consume every day has GMOs inside, and residues of Monsanto’s
RoundUp herbicide outside. But it’s not just processed food—fresh fruit
and vegetables are next:
genetically engineered sweet corn is already being sold at your local grocer, with apples and a host of other “natural” produce currently in field trials.
How is it that Monsanto is allowed to manipulate our food after such a
dark product history? How is it they are allowed to cause such
detrimental impact to our environment and our health?
According to the
Organic Consumers Association,
“There is a direct correlation between our genetically engineered food
supply and the $2 trillion the U.S. spends annually on medical care,
namely an epidemic of diet-related chronic diseases.
Instead of healthy fruits, vegetables, grains, and grass-fed animal
products, U.S. factory farms and food processors produce a glut of
genetically engineered junk foods that generate heart disease, stroke,
diabetes and cancer—
backed by farm subsidies—while organic farmers receive no such subsidies.
Monsanto’s history reflects a consistent pattern of toxic chemicals,
lawsuits, and manipulated science. Is this the kind of company we want
controlling our world’s food supply?
P.S. Monsanto’s not alone. Other companies in the “Big Six” include
Pioneer Hi-Bred International (a subsidiary of DuPont),
Syngenta AG,
Dow Agrosciences (a subsidiary of Dow Chemical,
BASF (which is primarily a chemical company that is rapidly expanding their biotechnology division, and
Bayer Cropscience (a subsidiary of Bayer). View a complete list of companies doing genetic engineering
on this website.
(615) 753-5647
