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In 1891, he moved to St. Louis to work for Meyer Brothers Drug Company. John was inducted into the Knights of
Malta order. His first business, a sulfur refinery in East St.Louis, was destroyed by fire on its first day of operation in 1899.
The process of refining beet sugar in 1900, led to Monsanto Corporation's first artificial sweetener, the following year. Butter
substitute, MSG and partially hydrogenated vegetable shortening were all soon to follow.
John Francis Queeny married Olga Mendez Monsanto with whom he had two children, one of whom was Edgar
Monsanto Queeny, who would later serve as Chairman. n 1901, John then established his own chemical company to
produce the sweetener, saccharin, which was only available in Germany at that time. He named the company Monsanto
after his wifes maiden name, Olga Monsanto Queeny.
Queeny was a member of the Missouri Historical Society and was a director of the Lafayette-South Side Bank and
Trust Company. "He was also known for his many philanthropic endeavors." [Final Resting Place, p. 83, The St. Louis
Portrait, p. 221]
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far above the industry average, hoped to emerge in the 1990s as one of the leaders in the fields of biotechnology and
pharmaceuticals that are only now emerging from their nascent stage.
By the end of the 1980s, Monsanto had restructured itself and become a producer of specialty chemicals, with a focus
on biotechnology products. Monsanto enjoyed consecutive record years in 1988 and 1989 - sales were $8.3 billion and
$8.7 billion, respectively. In 1988 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Cytotec, a drug that
prevents gastric ulcers in high-risk cases. Sales of Cytotec in the United States reached $39 million in 1989.
The Monsanto Chemical Co. unit prospered with products like Saflex, a type of nylon carpet fiber. The NutraSweet
Company held its own in 1989, contributing $180 million in earnings, with growth in the carbonated beverage segment
(which Monsanto originated from since 1901 seed money from Coca-Cola to produce carcinogenic Saccharin). Almost 500
new products containing NutraSweet were introduced in 1989, for a total of 3,000 products.
Monsanto continued to invest heavily in research and development, with 7% of sales allotted for R&D. The investment
began to pay off when the research and development department developed an all-natural fat substitute called Simplesse.
The FDA declared in early 1990 that the Simplesse product was "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) for use in
frozen desserts. That year, the NutraSweet Company introduced Simple Pleasures frozen dairy dessert. Monsanto
hoped to see Simplesse used eventually in salad dressings, yogurt, and mayonnaise.
Despite these successes, Monsanto remained frustrated by delays in obtaining FDA approval for bovine somatotropin
(BST), a hormore chemical MARKETED to increase milk production in cows that causes mastitis (pus milk). Opponents
toBST said it would upset the balance of supply and demand for milk, but Monsanto countered that BST would provide
high-quality food supplies to consumers worldwide.
The final year of the 1980s also marked Monsanto's listing for the first time on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Monsanto
officials expected the listing to improve opportunities for licensing and joint venture agreements.
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number of prescriptions. As Monsanto entered the 21st century, however, there were two uncertainties that loomed as
potentially serious obstacles blocking its future success. The acquisition campaign of the mid- and late-1990s had greatly
increased Monsanto's debt, forcing Monsanto to desperately search for cash. Secondly, there was growing opposition
to genetically altered crops at the decade's conclusion, prompting the United Kingdom to ban the yields
from GMO crops for a year. A great part of Monsanto's future success depended on the resolution of these two issues.
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1905: Monsanto company was also producing caffeine and vanillin and was beginning to turn a profit.
1906: The government's monopoly on meat regulation began, when in response to public panic resulting from the
publication of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, Teddy Roosevelt signed legislation mandating federal meat inspections.
Today, Salatin claims that agricultural regulation favors multinational corporations such as ConAgra and Monsanto
because the treasonous science that supports the USDA regulatory framework is paid for by these corporations, which
continue to give large grants to leading schools and research facilities.
1908: John Francis Queeny leaves his part-time job as the new branch manager of another drug house the PowersWeightman-Rosegarten Company to become Monsanto's full-time president.
1912: Agriculture again came to the forefront with the creation of the DeKalb County Farm Bureau, one of the first
organizations of its kind. In the 1930s the DeKalb AgResearch Corporation (today MONSANTO) marketed its first
hybrid seed corn.
19141918: During WWI, cut off from imported European chemicals, Monsanto was forced to manufacture it's own,
and it's position as a leading force in the chemical industry was assured. Unable to import foreign supplies from Europe
during World War I, Queeny turned to manufacturing his own raw materials. It was then his scientists discovered
that the Germans, in anticipation of the war, had ripped out vital pages from their research books which explained
various chemical processes.
1915: Business expanded rapidly. Monsanto sales surpass the $1,000,000 mark for the first time.
1917: U.S. government sues Monsanto over the safety of Monsanto's original product, saccharin. Monsanto eventually
won, after several years in court.
1917: Monsanto added more and more products: vanillin, caffeine, and drugs used as sedatives and laxatives.
1917: Bayer, The German competition cut prices in an effort to drive Monsanto out of business, but failed. Soon,
Monsanto diversified into phenol (a World War I -era antiseptic), and aspirin when Bayer's German patent expired in 1917.
Monsanto began making aspirin, and soon became the largest manufacturer world-wide.
1918: With the purchase of an Illinois acid company, Monsanto began to widen the scope of its factory operations.
Mar 15, 1918: More than 500 of the 750 employees of the Monsanto Chemical Works, which has big contracts for the
Government, went on strike, forcing the plant to dose down.
Aug 15, 1919: Thereafter much of it was declared surplus, and a contract was entered into with the Monsanto Chemical
Co., of St. Louis, Mo., by which contract the Director of Sales authorized the Monsanto Co. to sell for the United States
its surplus phenol, estimated at 27521242 pounds, for a market price to be fixed from time to time by the
representative of the contracting officer of the United States, but with a minimum price of 9 cents a pound.
1919: Monsanto established its presence in Europe by entering into a partnership with Graesser's Chemical Works at
Cefn Mawr near Ruabon, Wales to produce vanillin, salicylic acid, aspirin and later rubber.
1920s: In its third decade, Monsanto expanded into basic industrial chemicals like sulfuric acid and other chemicals.
Jan 5, 1920: The petitioner was authorized to sell two tracts of land in the Common Fields of Cahokia, St. Clair
County, containing 2.403 acres and 3.46 acres respectively, to the Monsanto Chemical Works for the sum of $1500.
1920-1921: A postwar depression during the early 1920s affected profits, but by the time John Queeny turned over
Monsanto to Edgar in 1928 the financial situation was much brighter.
1926: Environmental policy was generally governed by local governments, Monsanto Chemical Company founded and
incorporated the town of Monsanto, later renamed Sauget, Illinois, to provide a more business friendly environment
for one of its chemical plants. For years, the Monsanto plant in Sauget was the nation's largest producer
ofpolychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). And although polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were banned in the 1970s,
they remain in the water along Dead Creek in Sauget.
1927: Monsanto had over 2,000 employees, with offices across the country and in England.
1927: Shortly after its initial listing on the New York Stock Exchange, Monsanto moved to acquire 2 chemical companies
that specialized in rubber. Other chemicals were added in later years, including detergents.
1928: John Queeny's son Edgar Monsanto Queeny takes over the Monsanto company. Monsanto had gone public, a
move that paved the way for future expansion. At this time, Monsanto had 55 shareholders, 1,000 employees, and owned
a small company in Britain.
1929: Monsanto acquires Rubber Services Laboratories. Charlie Sommer joined Monsanto, and later became president
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of Monsanto in 1960.
October 1929: The folks at Monsanto Co. fished through their records, but they couldn't find out why the company's
symbol is MTC. Monsanto went public in October 1929, just a few days before the great stock market crash. Some
symbols are holdovers from the 19th century, when telegraph operators used single-letter symbols for the most active
stocks to conserve wire space, says the New York Stock Exchange. Mergers, acquisitions and failure have caused many
single-letter symbols to change
1929: Monsanto began production of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) in the United States. PCBs were considered an
industrial wonder chemical - an oil that would not burn, was impervious to degradation and had almost limitless
applications. Today PCBs are considered one of the gravest chemical threats on the planet. PCBs, widely used as
lubricants, hydraulic fluids, cutting oils, waterproof coatings and liquid sealants, are potent carcinogens and have been
implicated in reproductive, developmental and immune system disorders. The world's center of PCB manufacturing
was Monsanto's plant on the outskirts of East St. Louis, Illinois, which has the highest rate of fetal death and immature
births in the state.
Monsanto produced PCBs for over 50 years and they are now virtually
omnipresent in the blood and tissues of humans and wildlife around the globe
- from the polar bears at the north pole to the penguins in Antarctica. These
days PCBs are banned from production and some experts say there should
be no acceptable level of PCBs allowed in the environment. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency says, "PCB has been demonstrated to
cause cancer, as well as a variety of other adverse health effects on
the immune system, reproductive system, nervous system and
endocrine system." But the evidence of widespread contamination from
PCBs and related chemicals has been accumulating from 1965 onwards and
internal company papers show that Monsanto knew about the PCB
dangers from early on.
The PCB problem was particularly severe in the town of Anniston in Alabama
where discharges from the local Monsanto plant meant residents developed
PCB levels hundreds or thousands of times the average. As The Washington
Post reported, "for nearly 40 years, while producing the now-banned
industrial coolants known as PCBs at a local factory, Monsanto Co. routinely
discharged toxic waste into a west Anniston creek and dumped millions of
pounds of PCBs into oozing open-pit landfills. And thousands of pages of
Monsanto documents : many emblazoned with warnings such as 'CONFIDENTIAL: Read and Destroy' : show that for
decades, the corporate giant concealed what it did and what it knew."
Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group says that based on the Monsanto documents made public, Monsanto
"knew the truth from the very beginning. They lied about it. They hid the truth from their neighbors." One Monsanto
memo explains their justification: "We can't afford to lose one dollar of business." Eventually Monsanto was found guilty of
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".
1930s: DeKalb AgResearch Corporation (today MONSANTO) marketed its first **HYBRID** seed corn (maize).
1933: Incorporated as Monsanto Chemical Company
1934: "I recognized my two selves: a crusading idealist and a cold, granitic believer in the law of the jungle" - Edgar
Monsanto Queeny, Monsanto chairman, 1943-63, "The Spirit of Enterprise"
1935: Edward O'Neal (who became chairperson in 1964) came to Monsanto with the acquisition of the Swann
Corporation. Monsanto goes into the soap and detergents industry, starts producing phosphorus.
1938: Monsanto goes into the plastic business (the year after DuPont helped ban hemp because it was superior to their
new NYLON product made from Rockefeller OIL). Monsanto became involved in plastics when it completely took
overFiberloid, one of the oldest nitrocellulose production companies, which had a 50% stake in Shawinigan Resins.
1939: Monsanto purchased Resinox, a subsidiary of Corn Products, and Commercial Solvents, which specialized
inphenolic resins. Thus, just before the war, Monsanto's plastics interests included phenol-formaldehyde
thermosetting resins, cellulose and vinyl plastics.
1939-1945: Monsanto conducts research on uranium for the Manhattan Project in Dayton, Ohio. Dr. Charles Thomas,
who later served as Monsanto's chairman of the board, was present at the first test explosion of the atomic bomb. During
World War II, Monsanto played a significant role in the Manhattan Project to develop the atom bomb. Monsanto
operated the Dayton Project, and later Mound Laboratories in Miamisburg, Ohio, for the Manhattan Project,
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thedevelopment of the first nuclear weapons and, after 1947, the Atomic Energy Commission.
1940s: Monsanto had begun focusing on plastics and synthetic fabrics like polystyrene (still widely used in food
packaging and other consumer products), which is ranked 5th in the EPA's 1980s listing of chemicals whose production
generates the most total hazardous waste. From the 1940s onwards Monsanto was one of the top 10 US chemical
companies.
1941: By the time the United States entered World War II, the domestic chemical industry had attained far greater
independence from Europe. Monsanto, strengthened by its several acquisitions, was also prepared to produce such
strategic materials as phosphates and inorganic chemicals. Most important was Monsanto's acquisition of a research
and development laboratory called Thomas and Hochwalt. The well-known Dayton, Ohio, firm strengthened Monsanto at
the time and provided the basis for some of its future achievements in chemical technology. One of its most important
discoveries was styrene monomer, a key ingredient in synthetic rubber and a crucial product for the armed forces
during the war. Edward J. Bock joined Monsanto in 1941 as an engineer - he rose through the ranks to become a member
of the board of directors in 1965 and president in 1968.
1943: Massive Texas City plant starts producing synthetic rubber for the Allies in World War II.
1944: Monsanto began manufacturing DDT, along with some 15 other companies. The use of DDT in the U.S. was banned
by Congress in 1972.
1945: Following WW2, Monsanto championed the use of chemical pesticides in agriculture, and began manufacturing
theherbicide 2,4,5-T, which contains dioxin. Monsanto has been accused of covering up or failing to report dioxin
contamination in a wide range of its products.
1949: Monsanto acquired American Viscose from England's Courtauld family.
1950: Monsanto began to produce urethane foam - which was flexible, easy to use, and later became crucial in making
automobile interiors.
1953: Toxicity tests on the effects of 2 PCBs showed that more than 50% of the rats subjected to them DIED,
and ALLof them showed damage.
1954: Monsanto partnered with German chemical giant Bayer to form Mobay and market polyurethanes in the USA.
1955: Monsanto acquired Lion Oil refinery, increasing its assets by more than 50%. Stockholders during this time
numbered 43,000. Monsanto starts producing petroleum-based fertilizer.
1957: Monsanto moved to the suburban community of Creve Coeur, having finally outgrown its headquarters in
downtown St. Louis, Missouri.
1957-1967: Monsanto was the creator of several attractions in Disney's Tommorrowland. Often they revolved around the
the virtues of chemicals and plastics. Their "House of the Future" was constructed entirely of plastic, but it was NOT
biodegradable. "After attracting a total of 20 million visitors from 1957 to 1967, Disney finally tore the house down, but
discovered it would not go down without a fight. According to Monsanto Magazine, wrecking balls literally bounced off the
glass-fiber, reinforced polyester material. Torches, jackhammers, chain saws and shovels did not work. Finally, choker
cables were used to squeeze off parts of the house bit by bit to be trucked away."
1959: Monsanto sets up Monsanto Electronics Co. in Palo Alto, begins producing ultra-pure silicon for the high-tech
industry, in an area which would later become a Superfund site.
1960: Edgar Queeny turned over the chair of Monsanto to Charles Thomas, one of the founders of the research and
development laboratory so important to Monsanto. Charlie Sommer, who had joined Monsanto in 1929, became
president. According to Monsanto historian Dan Forrestal, "Leadership during the 1960s and early 1970s came principally
from ... executives whose Monsanto roots ran deep." Under their combined leadership Monsanto saw several important
developments, including the establishment of the Agricultural Chemicals division with focus on herbicides, created to
consolidate Monsanto's diverse agrichemical product lines.
1961-1971: Agent Orange was a mixture of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D and had very high concentrations of dioxin. Agent
Orange was by far the most widely used of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides" employed in the Herbicidal Warfare
program as a defoliant during the Vietnam War. Monsanto became one of 10-36 producers of Agent Orange for US
Military operations in Vietnam. Dow Chemical and Monsanto were the two largest producers of Agent Orange for the
U.S. military. The Agent Orange produced by Monsanto had dioxin levels many times higher than that produced by Dow
Chemicals, the other major supplier of Agent Orange to Vietnam. This made Monsanto the key defendant in the lawsuit
brought by Vietnam War veterans in the United States, who faced an array of debilitating symptoms attributable to
Agent Orange exposure. Agent Orange is later linked to various health problems, including cancer. U.S. Vietnam War
veterans have suffered from a host of debilitating symptoms attributable to Agent Orange exposure. Agent Orange
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1969: Monsanto produces Lasso herbicide, better known as Agent Orange, which was used as defoliant by the U.S.
Government during the Vietnam War. "[Lasso's] success turns around the struggling Agriculture Division," Monsanto's web
page reads.
1970s: Monsanto was a pioneer of optoelectronics in the 1970s. Although Bock had a reputation for being a committed
Monsanto executive, several factors contributed to his volatile term as president. Sales were up in 1970, but Bock's
implementation of the 1971 reorganization caused a significant amount of friction among members of the board and senior
management. In spite of the fact that this move, in which Monsanto separated the management of raw materials
from Monsanto's subsidiaries, was widely praised by security analysts, Bock resigned from the presidency in February
1972.
1970: Cyclamate (the reigning low-calorie artificial sweetener) is pulled off the market in November after some scientists
associate it with cancer. Questions are also raised about safety of saccharin, the only other artificial sweetener on the
market, leaving the field wide open for aspartame.
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December 18, 1970: Searle Company executives lay out a "Food and Drug Sweetener Strategy" that they feel will
put the FDA into a positive frame of mind about aspartame. An internal policy memo describes psychological tactics
Monsanto should use to bring the FDA into a subconscious spirit of participation" with them on aspartame and get FDA
regulators into the "habit of saying Yes."
1971: Neuroscientist Dr. John Olney (whose pioneering work with monosodium glutamate MSG was responsible for having
it removed from baby foods) informs Searle that his studies show that aspartic acid (one of the ingredients of
aspartame)caused holes in the brains of infant mice. One of Searle's own researchers confirmed Dr. Olney's findings in
a similar study.
1972: The use of DDT was banned by U.S. Congress, due in large part to efforts by environmentalists, who persisted in
the challenge put forth by Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring in 1962, which sought to inform the public of the side
effects associated with the insecticide, which had been much-welcomed in the fight against malaria-transmitting
mosquitoes.
1973: Monsanto developed and patented the glyphosate molecule in the 1970s. Monsanto began manufacturing the
herbicide Roundup, which has been marketed as a "safe", general-purpose herbicide for widespread commercial and
consumer use, even though its key ingredient, glyphosate, is a highly toxic poison for animals and humans.
1973: After spending tens of millions of dollars conducting safety tests, the G.D. Searle
Company applies for FDA approval and submits over 100 studies they claim support
aspartame's safety. One of the first FDA scientists to review the aspartame safety data states
that "the information provided (by Searle) is inadequate to permit an evaluation of
thepotential toxicity of aspartame". She says in her report that in order to be certain that
aspartame is safe, further clinical tests are needed.
1974: Attorney Jim Turner (consumer advocate who was instrumental in
getting cyclamate taken off the market) meets with Searle representatives in May to
discuss Dr. Olney's 1971 study which showed that aspartic acid caused holes in the
brains of infant mice.
1974: The FDA grants aspartame its first approval for restricted use in dry foods on July
26.
1974: Jim Turner and Dr. John Olney file the first objections against aspartame's approval in
August.
1975: After a 9-month search, John W. Hanley, a former executive with Procter & Gamble, was chosen as president.
Hanley also took over as chairperson.
1976: The success of the herbicide Lasso had turned around Monsanto's struggling Agriculture Division, and by the time
Agent Orange was banned in the U.S. and Lasso was facing increasing criticism, Monsanto had developed the weedkiller
"Roundup" (active ingredient: glyphosate) as a replacement. Launched in 1976, Roundup helped make Monsanto the
world's largest producer of herbicides. RoundUp was commercialized, and became the world's top-selling herbicide. Within
a few years of its 1976 launch, Roundup was being marketed in 115 countries.
The success of Roundup coincided with the recognition by Monsanto executives that they needed to radically transform a
company increasingly under threat. According to a recent paper by Dominic Glover, "Monsanto had acquired a particularly
unenviable reputation in this regard, as a major producer of both dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) bothpersistent environmental pollutants posing serious risks to the environment and human health. Law suits
and environmental clean-up costs began to cut into Monsanto's bottom line, but more seriously there was a real fear that a
serious lapse could potentially bankrupt the company." According to Glover, Roundup "Sales grew by 20% in 1981
and as the company increased production it was soon Monsanto's most profitable product (Monsanto 1981, 1983)... It
soon became the single most important product of Monsanto's agriculture division, which contributed about 20% of sales
and around 45% of operating income to the company's balance sheet each year during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
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the Searle tests are unreliable and not adequate to determine the safety of aspartame.
1981: Ronald Reagan is sworn in as President of the United States. Reagan's transition team, which includes Donald
Rumsfeld, CEO of G. D. Searle, hand picksDr. Arthur Hull Hayes Jr. to be the new FDA Commissioner. On January 21,
the day after Ronald Reagan's inauguration, GD Searle re-applied to the FDA for approval to use aspartame in
food sweetener, and Reagan's new FDA commissioner, Arthur Hayes Hull, Jr., appointed a 5-person Scientific
Commission to review the board of inquiry's decision. It soon became clear that the panel would uphold the ban by a 3-2
decision, but Hull then installed a 6th member on the commission, and the vote became deadlocked. He thenpersonally
broke the tie in aspartame's favor. Hull later left the FDA underallegations of impropriety, served briefly as Provost
at New York Medical College, and then took a position with Burston-Marsteller, the chief public relations firm for
both Monsanto and GD Searle. Since that time Hull has never spoken publicly about aspartame.
July 15, 1981: In one of his first official acts, Dr. Arthur Hayes Jr., the new FDA commissioner, overrules the Public
Board of Inquiry, ignores the recommendations of his own internal FDA team and approves NutraSweet for dry
products. Hayes says that aspartame has been shown to be safe for its' proposed uses and says few compounds have
withstood such detailed testing and repeated close scrutiny. G.D. Searle gets FDA
approval for aspartame(NutraSweet). Monsanto completes its acquisition of
Searle in 1985.
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1983: Diet Coke was sweetened with aspartame after the sweetener became available in the United States.
November 1984: Center for Disease Control (CDC) "Evaluation of consumer complaints related to aspartame use."
(summary by B. Mullarkey)
1985: Monsanto purchased G.D. Searle, the chemical company that held the patent to aspartame, the active ingredient
in NutraSweet. Monsanto was apparently untroubled by aspartame's clouded past,
including a 1980 FDA Board of Inquiry, comprised of three independent scientists,
which confirmed that it "might induce brain tumors". The aspartame business
became a separate Monsanto subsidiary, the NutraSweet Company.
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.
1986: At a congressional hearing, medical specialists denounce a National Cancer Institute study disputing
thatformaldehyde causes cancer. Monsanto and DuPont scientists helped with the study, whose author provided
results to the Formaldehyde Institute industry representatives nearly six months before releasing the study to the EPA,
labor unions, and the public.
1986: Monsanto spends $50,000 against California's anti-toxics initiative, Proposition 65. The initiative prohibits the
discharge of chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects into drinking water supplies.
1987: Monsanto conducted the first field tests of genetically engineered (GMO) crops.
1987: Monsanto is one of the companies named in an $180 million settlement for Vietnam War veterans exposed to
Agent Orange.
1987: Monsanto consolidated its AstroTurf management, marketing, and technical activities in Dalton, Georgia, as AstroTurf
Industries, Inc.
November 3, 1987: U.S. hearing, "NutraSweet: Health and Safety Concerns," Committee on Labor and Human
Resources, Senator Howard Metzenbaum, chairman.
1988: A federal jury finds Monsanto Co.'s subsidiary, G.D. Searle & Co., negligent in testing and marketing of its Copper 7
intrauterine birth control device (IUD). The verdict followed the unsealing of internal documents regarding safety
concerns about the IUD, which was used by nearly 10 million women between 1974 and 1986.
1990: EPA chemists allege fraud in Monsanto's 1979 dioxin study, which found exposure to the chemical doesn't
increasecancer risks.
1990: Monsanto spends more than $405,000 to defeat California's pesticide regulation Proposition 128, known as
the"Big Green" initiative. The initiative is aimed at phasing out the use of pesticides, including Monsanto's
product alachlor, linked to cancer and global warming.
1990: With the help of Roundup, the agriculture division of Monsanto was significantly outperforming Monsanto's
chemicals division in terms of operating income, and the gap was increasing. But as Glover notes, while "such a blockbuster
product uncorks a fountain of revenue", it "also creates an uncomfortable dependency on the commercial fortunes of a
single brand. Monsanto's management knew that the last of the patents protecting Roundup in the United States, its
biggest market, would expire in the year 2000, opening the field to potential competitors. The company urgently
needed a strategy to negotiate this hurdle and prolong the useful life of its 'cash cow'."
1991: Monsanto is fined $1.2 million for trying to conceal discharge of contaminated waste water into the Mystic River
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in Connecticut.
1993: By April, the Department of Veterans Affairs had only compensated 486 victims, although it had received disability
**CLAIMS** from 39,419 veteran soldiers who had been exposed to monsanto's Agent Orange while serving in
Vietnam. No compensation has been paid to Vietnamese civilians and though some compensation was paid to U.S.
veterans, according to William Sanjour, who led the Toxic Waste Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), "thousands of veterans were disallowed benefits" because "Monsanto studies showed that dioxin [as found in
Agent Orange] was not a human carcinogen." An EPA colleague discovered that Monsanto had apparently falsified
the data in their studies. Sanjour says, "If [the studies] were done correctly, they would have reached just the opposite
result."
1994: the first of Monsanto's biotech products to make it to market was not aGMO crop but Monsanto's
controversial GMO cattle drug, bovine growth hormone - called rBGH or rBST,
Monsanto granted regulatory approval for its first biotech product, a dairy cow
hormone. Monsanto developed a recombinant version of BST, brandnamed Posilac bovine somatropin (rBST/rBGH), which is produced through a
genetically engineered GMO E. coli bacteria. Synthetic Bovine Growth Hormone
(rBGH), approved by the FDA for commercial sale in 1994, despite strong
concerns about its safety. Since then, Monsanto has sued small dairy companies
that advertised their products as free of the artificial hormone, including Ben &
Jerry's ice cream and most recently bringing a lawsuit against Oakhurst Dairy in
Maine.
1995: Genetically engineered canola (rapeseed) which is tolerant to Monsanto's Roundup herbicide
was first introduced to Canada. Today 80% of the acres sown are genetically modified canola.
1995: Monsanto is sued after allegedly supplying radioactive material for a controversial study which
involved feeding radioactive iron to 829 pregnant women.
1995: Monsanto ranked 5th among U.S. corporations in EPA's Toxic Release Inventory, having
discharged 37 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, land, water and underground.
Monsanto was ordered to pay $41.1 million to a waste management company in Texas due to
concerns over hazardous waste dumping.
1995: The Safe Shoppers Bible says that Monsanto's Ortho Weed-B-Gon Lawn Weed
Killercontains a known carcinogen, 2,4 D. Monsanto officials argue that 'numerous studies have
found no link to cancer'.
1996: Monsanto introduces its first biotech crop, Roundup Ready soybeans, which tolerate
spraying of Roundup herbicide, and biotech BT cotton engineered to resist insect damage.
As Monsanto had moved into biotechnology, its executives had the opportunity to create a new
narrative for Monsanto. They begun to portray genetic engineering as a ground-breaking technology
that could contribute to feeding a hungry world. Monsanto executive Robb Fraley, who was head of
the plant molecular biology research team, is also said to have hyped the potential of GMO crops within the company, as a
once-in-a-generation opportunity for Monsanto to dominate a whole new industry, invoking the monopoly success of
Microsoft as a powerful analogy. But, according to Glover, the more down-to-earth pitch to fellow executives was that
"genetic engineering offered the best prospect of preserving the commercial life of Monsanto's most important
product, Roundup in the face of the challenges Monsanto would face once the patent expired."
Monsanto eventually achieved this by introducing into crop plants genes that give resistance to glyphosate (the active
ingredient in Roundup). This meant farmers could spray Roundup onto their fields as a weedkiller even during the
growing season without harming the crop. This allowed Monsanto to "significantly expand the market for Roundup and,
more importantly, help Monsanto to negotiate the expiry of its glyphosate patents, on which such a large slice of
Monsanto's income depended." With glyphosate-tolerant GMO crops, Monsanto was able to preserve its dominant
share of the glyphosate market through a marketing strategy that would couple proprietary "Roundup Ready" seeds with
continued sales of Roundup.
1996-1999: Monsanto sold off its plastics business to Bayer in 1996, and its phenylalanine facilities to Great Lakes
Chemical Corporation (GLC) in 1999. Much of the rest of its chemicals division was spun off in late 1997 as
Solutia. This helped Monsanto distance itself to some extent not only from direct financial liability for the historical core of
its business but also from its controversial production and contamination legacy.
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1997:
Monsanto
introduces
new GMO canola(rapeseed), GMO cotton and GMO corn (maize), and buys foundation seed companies.
1997: Monsanto spins off its industrial chemical and fibers business into Solutia Inc. amid complaints and legal claims
about pollution from its plants. Solutia was spun off from Monsanto as a way for Monsanto to divest itself of billions of
dollars in environmental cleanup costs and other liabilities for its past actions - liabilities that eventually forced Solutia
to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy. According to a spokesman for Solutia, "(Monsanto) sort of cherry-picked what they
wanted and threw in all kinds of cats and dogs as part of a going-away present," including $1 billion in debt and
environmental and litigation costs. Some pre-bankruptcy Solutia equity holders allege Solutia was set up fraudulently
as it was always doomed to fail under the financial weight of Monsanto's liabilities.
1997: The New York State Attorney General took Monsanto to court and Monsanto was subsequently forced to stop
claiming that Roundup is "biodegradable" and "environmentally friendly".
1997: The Seattle Times reports that Monsanto sold 6,000 tons of contaminated waste to Idaho fertilizer
companies, which contained the carcinogenic heavy metal cadmium, believed to cause cancer, kidney disease,
neurological dysfunction and birth defects.
1997: Through a process of mergers and spin-offs between 1997 and 2002, Monsanto made a transition from chemical
giant to biotech giant. Monsanto's corporate strategy led them for the first time to acquire seed companies. During the
1990s Monsanto spent $10 billion globally buying up seed companies - a push that continues to this day. It has
purchased, for example, Holden's Foundations Seeds, Seminis - the largest seed company not producing corn or
soybeans in the world, the Dutch seed company De Ruiter Seeds, and the big cotton seed firm Delta & Pine. As a
result, Monsanto is now the world's largest seed company, accounting for almost a quarter of the global proprietary seed
market.
1998: Monsanto introduces Roundup Ready corn (maize).
1998: In the UK, Monsanto purchased the seed company Plant Breeding
International (PBI) Cambridge, a major UK based cereals and potato breeder, which
Monsanto then merged with its existing UK agri-chemicals and GMO research businesses
to form Monsanto UK Ltd. Monsanto UK has carried out field trials of glyphosatetolerant sugar / fodder beet, glyphosate-tolerant oilseed rape, and glyphosate-tolerant
and male sterility / fertility restorer oilseed rape.
1998: "Survey of aspartame studies: correlation of outcome and funding sources,"
unpublished: Ralph G. Walton found 166 separate published studies in the peer reviewed
medical literature, which had relevance for questions of human safety. The 74 studies
funded by industry all (100%) attested to aspartame's safety, whereas of the 92 nonindustry funded studies, 84 (91%) identified a problem. 6 of the 7 non-industry
funded studies that were favorable to aspartame safety were from the FDA, which has a
public record that shows a strong pro-industry bias.
1999: After international criticism, Monsanto agrees not to [PUBLICLY] commercialize "Terminator" seeds.
1999: Monsanto opens its Beautiful Sciences exhibit at Disneyland.
1999: Monsanto sells their phenylalanine facilities to Great Lakes Chemical Corporation (GLC) for $125 million. In
2000, GLC sued Monsanto because of a $71 million dollar shortfall in expected sales.
2000: 5 pesticide companies, including Monsanto, controlled over 70% of all patents on agricultural biotechnology.
Monsanto had the largest share of the global GMO crops market.
2000: Since the inception of Plan Colombia, the US has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in funding aerial sprayings
of Monsanto's Roundup herbicides in Colombia. The Roundup is often applied in concentrations 26x higher than what
is recommended for agricultural use. Additionally, it contains at least one surfactant, Cosmo-Flux 411f, whose ingredients
are a trade secret, has never been approved for use in the US, and which quadruples the biological action of the
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herbicide. Not surprisingly, numerous human health impacts have been recorded in the areas affected by the sprayings,
including respiratory, gastrointestinal and skin problems, and even death, especially in children. Additionally, fish and
animals will show up dead in the hours and days subsequent to the herbicide sprayings.
2000-2002: Monsanto merges with Pharmacia & Upjohn, and changes its name to Pharmacia Corporation. Monsanto
Company restructures in deal with Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc; separates agricultural and chemicals businesses and
becomes stand-alone agricultural company. By 2000 the current Monsanto had emerged from various transactions,
including a merger for a time with Pharmacia, as a legally different corporation from the Monsanto that had existed from
1901-2000. This was despite the fact that both Monsantos shared not just the same name, but the same corporate
headquarters near St. Louis, Missouri, and many of the same executives and other employees, not to mention much of
the responsibility for liabilities arising out of its former activities.
2001: Retired Monsanto chemist William S. Knowles was named a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his
research on catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation, which was carried out at Monsanto beginning in the 1960s until his 1986
retirement.
2001: Monsanto GMO crops accounted for 91% of the total area of GMO crops planted worldwide.
2002: Monsanto entered into an important agreement with DuPont. As a result of this "agreement" both companies
agreed to drop a raft of outstanding patent lawsuits against one another and to share their patented GMO
cropstechnologies. Some commentators see this agreement' as constituting a pseudo-merger by stealth of the two
companies' GMO crops monopolies which are too large to be permitted to merge.
August 13, 2002: Monsanto had sales of $4,673,000,000. Based on 2001 figures Monsanto was the second biggest
seed company in the world, and the third biggest agrochemical company. The infamous agrochemical and
biotechnology division, still known as Monsanto, was spun off as a nominally separate company with Pharmacia originally
retaining an 85% share. Monsanto Company became completely separate and independent from Pharmacia on August
13, 2002, when Pharmacia distributed its remaining Monsanto shares to Pharmacia's stockholders.
2002: Events in Argentina also affected the company in other ways: Monsanto's Argentine unit lost $154 million in
the 2002 fiscal year, due to the collapse of the Argentine economy and a deepening recession which forced the
government to default on most of its public debt, and devalue the peso in January 2002. The government also
converted what was a dollar economy into a peso economy and, as a result, Monsanto received devalued pesos for
products it had sold in dollars, slashing its sales income.
2002: The Washington Post ran an article entitled, "Monsanto Hid Decades Of Pollution, PCBs Drenched Alabama
Town, But No One Was Ever Told" about PCBs. Monsanto share price plummeted in the second half of 2002
following its sell off by former parent company Pharmacia and this was compounded by the departure of Monsanto's CEO
at the end of 2002.
December 2002: CEO Hendrik Verfaillie resigned after he and the board agreed that his performance had
beendisappointing and the company had faced extensive criticism for failing to deal more honestly and effectively
with its difficulties. "This is a company that has been optimistic on the borderline of LYING," said Sergey Vasnetsov, senior
analyst with Lehman Brothers in New York. "Monsanto has been feeding us these FANTASIES for two years, and
when we saw they weren't real, its stock price fell."
2003: Jury fines Monsanto and its former chemical subsidiary, Solutia, Inc. (now owned by Pharmacia Corp.), agreed
topay $600 million in August to settle claims brought by more than 20,000+ residents of Anniston, Alabama - over
the severe contamination of ground and water by tons of PCBs dumped in the area from the 1930s until the 1970s.
Court documents revealed that Monsanto was aware of the contamination decades earlier.
2003: Solutia, Inc. (now owned by Pharmacia Corp.) files Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
2004: Monsanto forms American Seeds Inc holding company for corn and soybean seed deals and begins brand
acquisitions.
2004-2005: 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 Monsanto's 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 Monsanto's favor by the Canadian Supreme Court. By a 5-4 vote in late May 2004, that court ruled that
"bycultivating 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.
2005: Monsanto has patent claims on breeding techniques for pigs which would grant them ownership of any pigs
born of such techniques and their related herds. Greenpeace claims Monsanto is trying to claim ownership on ordinary
breeding techniques. Monsanto claims that the patent is a defensive measure to track animals from its system. They
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furthermore claim their patented method uses a specialized insemination device that requires less sperm than is typically
needed.
2005: Environmental, consumer groups question safety of Roundup Ready crops, say they create "super weeds,"
among other problems.
2006: In January, the South Korean Appeals Court ordered Dow Chemical and Monsanto to pay $62 million in
compensation to about 6,800 people.
2006: Organic farmers, concerned about the impact of GMO alfalfa on their crops, sued Monsanto (Monsanto Company
vs. Geertson Seed Farms). In response, in May 2007, the California Northern District Court issued an injunction order
prohibiting farmers from planting Roundup Ready alfalfa until the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) completed a
study on the genetically engineered crop's likely environmental impact. As a result, the USDA put a hold on any further
planting of Roundup Ready alfalfa.
2006: the Public Patent Foundation filed requests with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to revoke 4
patents that Monsanto has used in patent lawsuits against farmers. In the first round of reexamination, claims in all 4
patents were rejected by the Patent Office in 4 separate rulings dating from February through July 2007. Monsanto has
since filed responses in the reexaminations.
2006-2007: Monsanto buys several regional seed companies and cotton seed leader Delta and Pine Land Co. Competitors allege Monsanto gaining seed industry monopoly.
2007: Monsanto's biotech seeds and traits (including those licensed to other companies) accounted for almost 90% of
the total world area devoted toGMOseeds.
2007: California Northern District Court issued an injunction order prohibiting farmers from planting Roundup Ready
alfalfa until the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) completed a study on the genetically engineered crop's likely
environmental impact. As a result, the USDA put a hold on any further planting of Roundup Ready alfalfa.
2007: USDA Dairy Survey estimated rBGH use at 15.2% of operations and 17.2% of cows.
2008: Monsanto sells Posilac business to Eli Lilly (polio vaccine manufacturer) amid consumer and food industry
concerns about the dairy cow hormone supplement.
2008: Acquires sugarcane breeding companies, and a Dutch hybrid seed company.
2008-2009: U.S. Department of Justice says it is looking into monopolistic power in the U.S. seed industry.
2009: Monsanto posts record net sales of $11.7 billion and net income of $2.1 billion for fiscal 2009.
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2009: Monsanto announces a project to improve the living conditions of 10,000 small cotton and
corn farmers in 1,100 villages in India (keep in mind that 100,000 small cotton farmers in India
commit suicide by drinking Roundup AFTER massive GMO crop failures bankrupted their families);
donates cotton technology to academic researchers.
2010: Monsanto introduces their new brand Genuity
2010: Farmers in South Africa report 80% of the GMO corn was SEEDLESS at harvest time!
2010: Monsanto was named company of the year by Forbes magazine in January.
2010: Demand for milk without using synthetic hormones has increased 500% in the US
sinceMonsanto introduced their rBST product. Monsanto has responded to this trend
bylobbying state governments to ban the practice of distinguishing between milk from farms
pledged not to use rBST and those that do.
2011: Monsanto posts net income of $1 billion for fiscal 2010. OUCH! a 50% loss from 2009.
Today, over 80% of the worldwide area devoted to GMO crops carries at least one genetic trait for (Monsanto's Roundup)
herbicide tolerance. Herbicides account for about one-third of the global pesticide market. Monsanto's glyphosate-resistant
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(Roundup Ready) seeds have reigned supreme on the biotech scene for over a decade - creating
a near-monopoly for Monsanto's Roundup herbicide - which is now off patent. Roundup is the
world's biggest selling pesticide and it has helped make Monsanto the world's 5th largest
agrochemical company.
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