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MONSANTO the Gene Giant MONSANTO The Gene Giant Peddling LIFE SCIENCES or DEATH SCIENCES? RFSTE / Navdanya / Polaris Institute 87 MONSANTO: The Gene Giant Pedding LIFE S CIENCES or DEATH S CIENCES ? Revised Edition : January 2004 Compilation : Part I of this report was compiled and published in July 1998, and updated in January 2004 by RFSTE team Part II of this Book is compiled by Kimiko Inouye, Polaris Institute, Canada Printed by : Systems Vision A-199, Okhla - I, New Delhi - 110020 Published by RFSTE in collaboration with Polaris Institute (Canada) Research Foundation for Science, Polaris Institute Technology and Ecology 312 Cooper Street, A-60, Hauz Khas, New Delhi - 110016 Ottawa, ON - K2P 0G7 Canada Phone: 91-11 2696 8077, 2685 3772 Phone: 001 - 613 - 237 - 1717 Fax: 91-11 2685 6795 Fax: 001 - 613 - 237 - 33591 E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.vshiva.net Website: http://www.polarisinstitute.org 86 Contents PART I Monsanto: A Chemical Company Then, a Chemical Company Now 1 Monsanto: A Company with a Criminal History ......................................... 1 Monsanto’s Best Selling Products are Still Chemicals .................................. 3 Monsanto’s System of Total Control on Food ................................................ 6 Monsanto Acquisitions.......................................................................................... 6 “Seed Terminator” ................................................................................................. 8 Some of Monsanto’s Pipeline Products: ......................................................... 10 Monsanto: A Track Record of Deception and Disguise ............................ 12 Monsanto’s Global Spread ................................................................................. 20 Stop Press!!............................................................................................................. 23 The ‘Corporatisation’ of Agriculture ............................................................... 24 Monsanto and the Suppression of Freedom ................................................. 25 Monsanto’s Patented Indian Wheat Variety ................................................. 26 Bt. Cotton in India: A History of Illegalities and Irregularities .............. 32 First Clearances by GEAC despite Supreme Court Case .......................... 35 Illegal Spread from Illegal Bt. Cotton Trials................................................. 36 Commercial Clearance to First Genetically Engineered Crop in India ................................................................................................................... 37 Complete Failure of the First Commercialized Genetically Engineered Crop .................................................................................................. 41 Indian Farmers Reject Bt Cotton ..................................................................... 45 PART II Monsanto Profile ..................................................................................................................... 48 Monsanto Overview ......................................................................................... 49 Monsanto’s Vulnerabilities ................................................................................. 49 Monsanto’s Key Strategies ................................................................................. 50 84 Monsanto’s Business ........................................................................................ 52 GE Products on the Market .............................................................................. 52 GE Products in the Pipeline .............................................................................. 53 Sales ......................................................................................................................... 54 Operations.............................................................................................................. 55 Subsidiaries ............................................................................................................ 55 Board of Directors ............................................................................................... 56 Monsanto’s Public Relations .......................................................................... 57 Advertising Costs ................................................................................................ 57 Key Public Relations’ Mottos ............................................................................ 57 Monsanto Markets ............................................................................................ 60 Subsaharan Africa ............................................................................................... 60 Burkina Faso.......................................................................................................... 60 South and Southeast Asia ................................................................................. 63 Central and Eastern Europe ............................................................................. 66 Latin America ....................................................................................................... 68 Monsanto Research ........................................................................................... 70 University Ties ...................................................................................................... 70 The International Service for the Acquisition of Ag Biotech ................... 74 Chemical Contamination ................................................................................. 75 PCB Contamination ............................................................................................. 75 Agent Orange in Vietnam ................................................................................. 75 Roundup in Colombia ........................................................................................ 76 Child Labour in India ......................................................................................... 76 Campaigns Against Monsanto ....................................................................... 77 More Resources .................................................................................................. 81 85 PART I MONSANTO: A Chemical Company Then, A Chemical Company Now Monsanto, a global firm with headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri (USA) has facilities in many continents. Its sales are roughly 7.5 billion US dollars annually from around the world. After a 96 year history in the chemical industry, Monsanto Company is desperately trying to sell itself as a “life sciences” company. Even though Monsanto claims to have spun off its chemical operations into a new company called Solutia, its largest selling product is a herbicide called Roundup, which is a chemical. In any publicity campaign, Monsanto proudly states that it manufactures “the world’s largest selling herbicide.” Roundup accounts for more than fifty percent of the company’s annual operating profit. Dain Bosworth Incorporated states that, “currently Monsanto lives and dies based on its results for Roundup.” MONSANTO: A Company with a Criminal History This chemical giant is associated with a disreputable past. Indeed, the name “Monsanto” has an image of nasty chemicals, which is a key reason that Monsanto has never put its name on food ingredients. Monsanto was a major producer of Agent Orange, the military name for the herbicides used to clear jungles during the Vietnam War. Soldiers exposed to Agent Orange have suffered a multitude of health problems, which also caused genetic defects in their offspring. The company manufactured PCBs chemicals that have been proven to cause cancer and birth defects. The historic image of chemicals is the main reason why Monsanto pretended to isolate its chemical business into a separate company, Solutia in 1997. Divesting one’s name from chemicals is not sufficient evidence for sustainable action, when chemicals still occupy the primary focus of the company. The attempt to switch from an image of toxins, pesticides and chemicals, to one of “food, hope and health” has failed drastically. The company is also plagued with lawsuits that have become commonplace at Monsanto. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has designated Monsanto as a “potentially responsible party” at 93 Superfund sites (Superfund sites are those where hazardous chemicals have been dumped). As of December 31, 1995, Monsanto has an accrued liability of $71 million for Superfund sites. Monsanto has another accrued liability of $90 million for other alleged environmental issues. Monsanto has spent $60 million in 1995 for remediation of Superfund and other contaminated sites. 1 Monsanto’s Toxic Links “The story of Monsanto and dioxin resembles nothing so much as an `X Files’ episode.” There is now evidence that the USEPA and the United States military communicated directly with Monsanto Chemical Company about PCB contamination, and the possible use of the by product of 2,4,5 T (Agent Orange) production. What is mysterious is the way that the documents tying Monsanto to waste oil hauler Russell Bliss, who is considered responsible for spreading dioxin across the state of Missouri, have disappeared from state archives. The US Army’s records on discussions with Monsanto about using dioxin as a chemical weapon are still classified and closed to the public. In 1971, in the midst
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