MONSANTO

Monsanto a global polluter

Monsanto is the leading company responsible for contaminating the environment with genetically engineered (GE) crops. Its products accounted for over 90%of the total area planted with GE crops in the world in 2001[1] Monsanto’s business strategy is to develop new GE products while in the meantime building public acceptance of genetic engineering and gaining regulatory approval to find new markets for its existing GE seeds (Soya, maize, canola, potatoes, cotton).For example, Monsanto has applied or received authorization to grow GE Soya in Brazil, GE maize in the Philippines, GE canola in Australia, GE cotton in India, and GE maize in Europe.

A company in a hurry

The fact that Monsanto is in a hurry to have its GE crops grown is not a good reason for governments to be rushed into authorizing them. It is clear from the evidence that GE crops pose real and proven environmental, social and economic threat while offering little benefit except to the companies producing and selling them. While Monsanto has been forging ahead to open up markets in Asia and Latin America, they have-:

  • abandoned plans to market its most important future product GE wheat despite spending $60 million on it in 2004 alone.
  • Abandoned plans to develop its most important future area of research pharmaceutical crops.
  • Abandoned operations in Argentina despite 90% market penetration of GE soya (this implies that value capture in developing countries is highly uncertain).
  • Suspendedits investment in Roundup Ready canola in Australia.
  • Cut production of its flagship product rBGH by50% in the US for most of 2004[2]

A company with financial troubles

Monsanto was bought by pharmaceutical company Pharmacia in 2000.In 2002, Pharmacia spun-off its controlling stake in Monsanto to clear the way for Pfizer (an even bigger pharmaceutical giant) to buy Pharmacia. Monsanto ’ stock dropped significantly during 2002, from $33.99 in April to a 52-week low of $13.20 in July. It hasn ’t recovered since and was still under $20 in January 2003 [3] .In 2005 the US agrochemical giant Monsanto was forced to pay a $1.5m (£799,000) fine for bribing an Indonesian official.

Monsanto admitted one of its employees paid the senior official two years ago in a bid to avoid environmental impact studies being conducted on its cotton. [4]

Monsanto records show US$700,000 of "questionable or illegal" payments from 1997-2001 to current and former Indonesian government officials and their family members. Obviously nothing works better than piles of cash to help smooth the path of government approval for controversial GE crop, when faced with opposition from activists and farmers in Indonesia.

Taking control of the seed supply

Monsanto bought its way into a key position in the seed market by spending billions of dollars buying up plant-cultivating firms including the market leaders

in maize, soybeans and cotton. Included on this shopping spree were Asgrow Agronomics (1996), Monsoy (1996),Calgene (1997),Holden ’ Foundation Seeds (1997)and DeKalb Genetics (1997).At the same time the company acquired important GE-related patents and access to valuable germplasm. In order to penetrate the cotton market in India, Monsanto entered into a partnership with Mahyco (50/50) called Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (MMB). Rasi Seeds, Ankur Seeds, Vikram Seeds, Ajeet Seeds, Krishi Dhan and India Seeds Holding are all sub licencee’s of Monsanto India.All these companies have incorporated the Cry1 Ac (Bollgard) gene constructed, patented and owned by Monsanto into their cotton hybrids. “We are willing to sub-licence the Bollgard gene to any breeder who wants to incorporate it into his hybrid. These could even include public sector breeders and agricultural universities", said Mr Bipin Solanki, Deputy Managing Director, MMB[5]

Monsanto: selling chemicals and suing farmers

Most of the GE seeds marketed by Monsanto are resistant to the company’s own herbicide-Roundup. So the more GE seeds Monsanto sells, the more profit it makes on its herbicide. In 2001,‘Roundup-ready ’(i.e. herbicide-tolerant) crops accounted for 77%of the acreage sown to GE crops, and Roundup is now the world ’ biggest selling herbicide and Monsanto ’ main source of profit.

US and Canadian farmers, who buy seeds from Monsanto, have to sign a contract which bars them from saving seed for use and obliges them to buy Monsanto chemicals. These contracts, and the patents on GE seeds, deny farmers the right to save, exchange and replant seeds. Monsanto is currently suing hundreds of US and Canadian farmers, for saving seed or otherwise breaching the patent. At the same time, Monsanto itself is being sued by farming, scientific and civil society organisations for the contamination of conventional and organic agriculture [6].

Monsanto and trade

It was reported in August 2002 that Rufus Yerxa, former US Ambassador to GATT and International Counsel to Monsanto, had been appointed as the US deputy to the new Director General of the World Trade Organization [7]15 . What role if any Mr Yerxa may play in the threatened US-EU dispute over GE crops at the WTO is not clear. Also in Mexico, Monsanto finds itself at the center of a major dispute asinvestigations have revealed that its GE maize has contaminated Mexican maize landraces.

Prevention is the only solution

Genetic engineering can have unexpected and unintended effects because the process is imprecise and random. Inserted genes may disrupt natural genes, be unstable in their new environment, or function differently than expected. Genetic contamination has the potential to be a problem that multiplies as plants grow and reproduce. Therefore, environmental damage caused by genetically modified organisms cannot be contained.

Monsanto is not the only company producing GE seeds, but it is by far the leading promoter of genetic engineering in agriculture. Monsanto must be held liable for the costs of the damage that its products cause, and be brought under the control of civil society and government regulation to prevent further damage to the environment and human health.

Some products that Monsanto cant be too proud of:
PolyChlorinated ByphenylsUntil the US Congress banned the manufacture of PCBs in 1976, we were responsible for the manufacture of nearly all the 1.2 million tonnes of these chemicals.[i] The EPA has also found clear evidence that PCBs have significant toxic effects on the immune system, the reproductive system, the nervous system and the endocrine system. Monsanto knew as early as 1959 that PCBs were toxic[ii], and yet we refused to inform the public of the risks associated with exposure.
Agent Orange
EPA identifies Agent Orange as “the most toxic of the dioxins” leading to a range of impacts including suppression of the immune system and cancer. During the assault on Vietnam, between 1962 and 1971 the US used about 70 million liters of Agent Orange manufactured by us to clear ground cover and destroy crops. Thirty years hence, the people of Vietnam still receive no official aid to clean up the contamination.
Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone.
BST or rBGH marketed by us as Posilac is a genetically engineered hormone designed to make cows produce more milk. Because of evidence that BST milk causes Breast cancer, Colon cancer and Prostate cancer in humans, it is banned in Europe.
The Terminator Gene
The “terminator” technology patented by our company involves the genetic modification of plants to produce sterile seeds. It has been condemned widely the world over by the scientific community, NGOs, governments as an “immoral application of agbiotech”. If commercialised, it would prevent farmers from re-using seeds from their harvest, forcing them to return to the commercial seed market.
Roundup
Roundup (active ingredient glyphosate) is our flagship weed killer (or herbicide), accounting for 67% of the company’s total sales or about $2.6 billion annually. While we maintain that Roundup is safe, As part of an out-of-court settlement, we 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. Symptoms of acute poisoning in humans following ingestion of Roundup include gastrointestinal pain, vomiting, swelling of the lungs, pneumonia( to mention a few). The herbicide is 100 times more toxic to fish than people, toxic to earthworms, soil bacteria and beneficial fungi
Butachlor
We also produce butachlor (trade names Machete, Lambast), an herbicide which poses both acute and chronic health risks and can contaminate water supplies. Although we manufacture butachlor in Iowa, the herbicide has never been registered in the US or gained a food residue tolerance. In 1984, the EPA rejected our registration applications due to "environmental, residue, fish and wildlife, and toxicological concerns." Monsanto has refused to submit additional data requested by the EPA and continues to sell it abroad.

[1]1 This,and other Monsanto data from Monsanto,Annual report 2001,

[2]

[3]New York Stock Exchange, 2003

[4]

[5]

[6] See

[7]Financial Times(London) 20 August 2002

[i] Rachel’s Environment & Health News #144 – Thanks to Monsanto. August 29, 1989

[ii] “…sufficient exposure…can result in chloracne which I think we must assume could be an indication of a more systemic injury if the exposure were allowed to continue.” letter from Elmer P Wheeler of Monsanto’s Medical Department to H Wilbur Speicher, Administrator of Industrial Hygiene at Westinghouse, October 23 1959