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Monsanto: History of Contamination and Cover-up

by Barbara L. Minton (see all articles by this author)

(NaturalNews) The new Monsanto has clearly come to dominate the American
food chain with its genetically modified (GM) seeds. It's a master at
enforcing its 674 biotechnology patents, using tyrannical and ruthless
tactics against small farmers. This new Monsanto has also moved into the
production of milk with it artificial growth hormones, seeking to dominate
the dairy industry as effectively as it has the seed business. Has this new
corporate image made us forget about the old Monsanto's decades long history
of scorched earth and toxic contamination?

An article in the May, 2008 edition of Vanity Fair chronicles the history of
Monsanto from its beginnings to its efforts to shed itself of the image of
toxic environmental and human threat.

A short history

Monsanto was founded in 1901 by John Francis Queeny who had an idea to make
money manufacturing saccharin, an artificial sweetener then imported from
Germany. He called his company Monsanto Chemical Works. The German cartel
then controlling the market for saccharin tried to force Queeny out of
business, but his persistence and the loyalty of one steady customer,
Coca-Cola, kept the company going. Vanillin, caffeine, sedative drugs,
laxatives and aspirin had been added to the arsenal of products when
supplies were cut off from Europe during World War I, forcing Monsanto to
manufacture its own, and positioning it as a leading force in the American
chemical industry.

In the 1920's, Queeny's son took over and built Monsanto into a global
powerhouse, extending into the production of an astounding array of plastic,
rubber and vinyl goods, fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.

In the 1970's Monsanto moved into biotechnology. By 1982 it had become the
first to genetically modify a plant cell, making it possible to introduce
virtually any gene into plant cells to improve crop productivity. According
to Vanity Fair writers Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, Monsanto
sought to portray GM seeds as a panacea for alleviating poverty and feeding
the hungry.

During the late 1990's, Monsanto spun off its chemical and fibers businesses
into a new company called Solutia. It then reincorporated itself and emerged
as an agricultural company.

Company literature refers to Monsanto as a "relatively new company" with the
primary goal of helping "farmers around the world in their mission to feed,
clothe and fuel" the planet. The listed corporate milestones are from the
recent era. There is no mention of the old Monsanto's potential
responsibility for more than 50 Environmental Protection Agency Superfund
sites. And it does not mention that the reason for the formation of Solutia
was to channel the bulk of the mounting chemical lawsuits and liabilities
into the spun off company, keeping the new Monsanto name tarnish-free.
But keeping the new corporate image polished may be a tough task. For many
years Monsanto produced two of the most toxic substances ever known --
polychlorinated biphenyls, known as PCBs, and dioxin. Several court
proceedings regarding these substances remain unresolved.

Toxic storm

In the town of Nitro, West Virginia, Monsanto operated a chemical plant from
1929 to 1995, making an herbicide that had dioxin as a by-product. The name
dioxin refers to a group of highly toxic chemicals that have been linked to
heart and liver disease, human reproductive disorders, and developmental
problems. Dioxin persists in the environment and accumulates in the body,
even in small amounts. In 2001, the U.S. government listed dioxin as a
"known human carcinogen".

In 1949, at the Nitro plant, a pressure valve blew on a container of this
herbicide, producing a plume of vapor and white smoke that drifted out over
the town. Residue coated the interior of buildings and those inside them
with a fine black powder. Within days, workers experienced skin eruptions,
and many were diagnosed with chloracne, a long lasting and disfiguring
condition. Others felt intense pains in their chest, legs and trunk. A
medical report from the time said the explosion "caused a systemic
intoxication in the workers involving most major organ systems." Doctors
detected a strong odor coming from the patients they described as men
"excreting a foreign chemical through their skins".

Monsanto downplayed the incident, saying that the contaminant was "fairly
slow acting" and only an irritant to the skin.

Meanwhile, the Nitro plant continued to produce herbicides, In the 1960's it
manufactured Agent Orange, the powerful herbicide used by the U.S. military
to defoliate jungles during the Vietnam War, and which became the focus of
lawsuits by veterans contending they had been harmed by exposure to the
chemical. Agent Orange also created dioxin as a by-product.

At the Nitro plant, dioxin waste went into landfills, storm drains, streams,
sewers, into bags with the herbicide, and then the waste was burned out into
the air. Dioxin from the plant can still be found in nearby streams, rivers,
and fish. Residents have sued Monsanto and Solutia for damages, but Monsanto
claims "the allegations are without merit" and promises to vigorously defend
itself. The suit may drag on for years. Monsanto has the resources to wait;
plaintiffs usually don't.

Poisoned earth

From 1929 to 1971, the Anniston, Alabama plant produced PCBs as industrial
coolants and insulating fluids for transformers and other electrical
equipment. PCBs became central to American industries as lubricants,
hydraulic fluids, and sealants. PCBs are highly toxic members of a family of
chemicals that mimic hormones, and have been linked to damage in the liver
and nervous system, as well as immune, endocrine and reproductive disorders.
The Environmental Protective Agency (EPA), and the Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry, part of Health and Human Services, classify
PCBs as "probably carcinogens".

Today, after tons of contaminated soil have been removed in an effort to
reclaim the Anniston site, the area around the old Monsanto plant continues
to be one of the most polluted spots in the U.S. While the plant was in
production, excess PCBs were dumped in a nearby open-pit landfill or allowed
to flow off the property with storm water. Some were poured directly into a
creek running alongside the plant and emptying into a larger stream. PCBs
are contained in private lawns fertilized with soil from the plant.

The people of Anniston have breathed air, planted gardens, drunk from wells,
fished in rivers, and swum in creeks contaminated with PCBs without knowing
the danger. As public awareness grew in the 1990's, health authorities found
elevated levels of PCBs in houses, yards, streams, fields, fish -- and
people. The cleanup is now underway, and will take years, but once PCB is
absorbed into human tissue, it is there forever.

Monsanto closed its PBC plant in Wales in 1977. In recent years, residents
of Groesfaen, in southern Wales, have noticed vile odors emanating from an
old quarry outside their village. As it turns out, Monsanto dumped thousands
of tons of waste from its nearby PCB plant into the quarry. British
authorities have identified the site as one of the most contaminated places
in Britain.

What did Monsanto know about the potential dangers of the chemicals it
manufactured? Information from court records indicates Monsanto knew quite a
lot. The evidence that Monsanto refused to face questions about the toxicity
of PBCs is clear.

In 1956, the company tried to sell its PCB containing hydraulic fluid,
Pydraul 150, to the navy. Monsanto supplied the navy with test results from
the product, but the navy decided to do its own testing. As a result, navy
officials informed Monsanto that they would not buy the product, saying that
"application of Pydraul 150 caused death in all of the rabbits tested" and
indicated "definite liver damage". According to an internal Monsanto memo
divulged during a court proceeding, "no matter how we discussed the
situation, it was impossible to change their thinking that Pydraul 150 is
just too toxic for use in submarines", stated Monsanto's medical director.

In 1966, a biologist conducting studies for Monsanto in streams near the
Anniston plant submerged test fish. He reported to Monsanto that, "All 25
fish lost equilibrium and turned on their sides in 10 seconds and all were
dead in 3 ½ minutes."

The company swung into action to limit the PR damage when the Food and Drug
Administration found high levels of PCBs in fish near the Anniston plant in
1970. An internal memo entitled "Confidential -- F.Y.I. and Destroy" from a
Monsanto official, reviewed steps to limit disclosure of the information.
One aspect of the strategy was to get public officials to fight Monsanto's
battle: "Joe Crockett, Secretary of the Alabama Water Improvement Commission
will try to handle the problem quietly without release of the information to
the public at this time," according to the memo.

The plant manager of Monsanto's Anniston site "convinced" a reporter for The
Anniston Star that there was nothing to worry about. An internal memo from
Monsanto's headquarters in St. Louis, summarized the story that subsequently
appeared in the newspaper: "Quoting both plant management and the Alabama
Water Improvement Commissions, the feature emphasized the PCB problem was
relatively new, was being solved by Monsanto and, at this point, was no
cause for public alarm."

The real truth is that there was huge cause for public alarm for the harm
done to the public by Monsanto. But that was the old Monsanto, not today's
shiny new Monsanto. Today's Monsanto says it can be trusted -- that its
biotech crops are "as wholesome, nutritious and safe as conventional crop",
and that the milk produced from cows injected with its artificial growth
hormones is identical to the milk from untreated cows.

About the author
Barbara is a school psychologist, a published author in the area of personal
finance, a breast cancer survivor using "alternative" treatments, a born
existentialist, and a student of nature and all things natural.