HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0177.006 2012-2014 VI. The History of Monsanto COUNTY CLERK
COUNTY OF HAWAII
Time 6:0REgE BY '
Date-71.2M
A. Timeline: 1901-2009*
Over its 108-year history,Monsanto Co (MON.N),the world's largest seed company,has evolved
from primarily an industrial chemical concern into a pure agricultural products company.Following is a
timeline of the St.Louis,Missouri-based company's history published by Reuters, 11 November 2009.
• 1901 -Original Monsanto founded as a maker Pharmacia&Upjohn Inc;separates agricultural
of saccharine by John F. Queeny and named after and chemicals businesses and becomes stand-
his wife,Olga Monsanto Queeny. alone agricultural company.
• 1920s and 1930s-Manufacturers sulfuric acid •2002-2003-Jury finds Monsanto plant in
and other chemicals, including polychlorinated Anniston,Alabama,polluted community with
biphenyls (PCBs),which are later implicated in PCBs.Monsanto and Solutia agree to pay$600
reproductive,developmental and immune system million to settle claims brought by 20,000
disorders. Anniston residents of PCB ground and water
• 1940s-Manufactures plastics and synthetic contamination.
fabrics •2003-Solutia files Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
• 1960s-Establishes agricultural division with •2004-Monsanto forms American Seeds Inc
focus on herbicides. holding holding company for corn and soybean seed deals
7 • 1962-1971 -Becomes one of principal i ` and begins brand acquisitions.
companies supplying herbicide known as Agent •2005-Environmental,consumer groups
Orange to U.S. military for use in Vietnam War. question safety of Roundup Ready crops,say they
\ Agent Orange is later linked to various health create"super weeds,"among other problems.
problems,including cancer. •2006-2007-Buys several regional seed
• 1976-Commercializes Roundup herbicide, companies and cotton seed leader Delta and Pine
which goes on to be a top seller around the world. Land Co. Competitors allege Monsanto gaining
• 1982-Some 2,000 people are relocated from seed industry monopoly.
Times Beach,Missouri,after area is contaminated •2008-Acquires sugarcane breeding companies,
with PCB by-product dioxin.Critics say a St. and a Dutch hybrid seed company. Sells Posilac
ir
Louis-area Monsanto chemical plant was a source business amid consumer and food industry
but company denies any connection. concerns about the dairy cow hormone
• 1994-Wins regulatory approval for its first supplement.
biotech product,a dairy cow hormone called •2008-2009-U.S. Department ofJustice says
Posilac. it is looking into monopolistic power in the U.S.
• 1996-Introduces first biotech crop,Roundup seed industry.
Ready soybeans,which tolerate spraying •2009-Posts record net sales of$11.7 billion !
of Roundup herbicide,and biotech cotton and net income of$2.1 billion for fiscal 2009.
engineered to resist insect damage. Announces project to improve the living
• 1997-Spins off its industrial chemical and conditions of 10,000 small cotton and corn
fibers business into Solutia Inc amid complaints farmers in 1,100 villages in India;donates cotton it
and legal claims about pollution from its plants. technology to academic researchers.
Introduces new biotech canola,cotton and corn,
and buys foundation seed companies.
• 1998-Introduces Roundup Ready corn. *http://wwwreuters.com/article/2009/11/11/food-
•2000-2002-Restructures in deal with monsanto-idUSN1032100920.0�91(111
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Ref. Date MAR 2 8 2013
B. Record of Monsanto
Dr. PM. Bhargava*
• 1969: Produces Agent Orange,which was used into the Mystic River in Connecticut.
as a defoliant by the U.S. Government during the • 1995: Monsanto is sued after allegedly
Vietnam War.I have myself seen defoliated trees supplying radioactive material for a controversial
over a hundred miles south of Hanoi in 1982. study which involved feeding radioactive iron to
• 1976: Monsanto produces Cycle-Safe, the 829 pregnant women.
world's first plastic soft-drink bottle.The bottle, • 1995: Monsanto ordered to pay$41.1 million
suspected of posing a cancer risk,is banned to a waste management company in Texas due to
the following year by the Food and Drug concerns over hazardous waste dumping.
Administration of the U.S. • 1995: The Safe Shoppers Bible says that
• 1986: Monsanto found guilty of negligently Monsanto's Ortho Weed-B-Gon Lawn Weed
exposing a worker to benzene at its Chocolate Killer contains a known carcinogen,2,4 D.
Bayou Plant in Texas. It is forced to pay$100 •2005:According to the U.S. Securities&
million to the family of Wilbur Jack Skeen, a Exchange Commission,Monsanto bribed
worker who died of leukaemia after repeated at least 140 Indonesian officials or their
exposures. families to get Bt cotton approved without an
• 1986: Monsanto spends$50,000 against environmental impact assessment(ETA). In
California's anti-toxics initiative,Proposition 65. 2005,Monsanto paid $1.5 million in fines to the
The initiative prohibits the discharge of chemicals US Justice Department for these bribes.
known to cause cancer or birth defects into •2005: Six Government scientists including
drinking water supplies. Dr. Margaret Haydon told the Canadian Senate
• 1987: Monsanto is one of the companies Committee of Monsanto's `offer' of a bribe
named in an$180 million settlement for Vietnam of between$1-2 million to the scientists from
War veterans exposed to Agent Orange. Health Canada if they approved the company's
• 1988:A federal jury finds Monsanto Co.'s GM bovine growth hormone (rbGH) (banned
subsidiary, G.D. Searle&Co.,negligent in testing in many countries outside the US),without
and marketing of its Copper 7 intrauterine birth further study, and how notes and files critical
control device (IUD). The verdict followed the of scientific data provided by Monsanto were
unsealing of internal documents regarding safety stolen from a locked filing cabinet in her office.
concerns about the IUD,which was used by One FDA scientist arbitrarily increased the
nearly 10 million women between 1974 and 1986. allowable levels of antibiotics in milk 100-fold in
• 1990:EPA chemists allege fraud in Monsanto's order to facilitate the approval of rbGH. She had
1979 dioxin study which found their exposure to just arrived at the FDA from Monsanto.
the chemical doesn't increase cancer risks. •2005: The US Patent and Trademark Office
• 1990: Monsanto spends more than$405,000 rejected four key Monsanto patents related to
to defeat California's pesticide regulation GM crops that the Public Patent Foundation
Proposition 128, known as the"Big Green" (PUBPAT) challenged because the agricultural
initiative. The initiative was aimed at phasing giant is using them to harass, intimidate, sue-
out the use of pesticides,including Monsanto's and in some cases bankrupt-American farmers.
product Alachlor,linked to cancer and to global Monsanto devotes more than$10 million per
warming. year to such anti-farmer activities,over alleged
• 1991: Monsanto is fined$1.2 million for trying improper use of its patented seeds.
to conceal discharge of contaminated waste water •2005: The Alabama Court Judgement in
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