Monsanto Company

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Monsanto was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation, headquartered in Missouri, USA. Monsanto developed Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, in the 1970s, and became a major producer of genetically engineered crops.
In Jun.2018, Bayer AG acquired 100% of Monsanto, which then became part of its Bayer AG § Crop Science division.

When you control the seed, you control the profit from growing food.

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Roundup and Glyphosate

How did Roundup come to be so widely used? The short answer: it wasn't, until 1996 when Roundup-Ready GM crops came onto the market. The main purpose of these GM crops was to sell more glyphosate; Monsanto was in a big hurry because its glyphosate patent was expiring - and it worked; seed sales exploded. See Carey Gillam's excellent book Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science for an enlightening explanation. Or read this article for a good overview. Carey Gillam giving evidence to the European Parliament's glyphosate hearing in Oct.2017 is here.

Roundup and Glyphosate: what's the big deal? Roundup Kills Everything. That's everything - except for the plants and their seeds which have been genetically engineered to resist it. The toxic (weed-killing) residue remains on the seeds and in the earth. When these crops are harvested, they contain high levels of glyphosate, and it doesn't go away. The seeds - corn, soybeans, etc. - are fed to animals and people, and used to make other products. Perhaps the next stage is to genetically engineer people to make them Roundup resistant?

Inconveniently, the weeds that used to die from RoundUp herbicide don't die anymore; they have adapted to become tolerant. Not only have new "Super Weeds" been found growing in GMO crop sites, but resistant pests are also evolving.[1]

Throughout its history, Monsanto has developed chemical products which have eventually become controversial or been banned, including DDT, Agent Orange, Bovine Growth Hormone, and PCBs. In 2004, a Monsanto spokesman said "... reliable scientific evidence indicates that Agent Orange is not the cause of serious long-term health effects".[2]

Timeline

  • Dec.2019: Whole Earth Brands: Act II Global Acquisition Corporation, a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition vehicle and owner of Merisant Company, and the owners of MAFCO Worldwide LLC, the world’s leading manufacturer of natural licorice products, announced that they have entered into a definitive business combination. Merisant and MAFCO comprise the operating subsidiaries of Flavors Holdings Inc, which is owned by affiliates of MacAndrews & Forbes Inc. Act II will combine with the businesses of Merisant, MAFCO and certain of their subsidiaries. Following the closing of the proposed transaction, it is expected that Act II will change its name to Whole Earth Brands and continue to be listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.ref M&F WorldwideWikipedia-W.svg, MacAndrews & ForbesWikipedia-W.svg, MerisantWikipedia-W.svg, Equal (sweetener)Wikipedia-W.svg, CanderelWikipedia-W.svg, PureViaWikipedia-W.svg, Whole Earth Sweetener.
  • Jun.2018: Bayer successfully completed the acquisition of Monsanto, with Bayer now the sole owner of Monsanto Company.[1]
  • Sept.2016: Bayer AG announced its intention to acquire Monsanto. The deal was completed in Jun.2018, after US and EU regulatory approval.ref A top priority was to lose the toxic "Monsanto" name, firmly associated with GMOs and Glyphosate; the new company will be known as just "Bayer".ref
  • Oct.2014: Flavors Holdings Inc, a liquorice ingredients supplier and parent company of Mafco Worldwide Corporation, bought Merisant Company from Wayzata Investment Partners LLC. Merisant is the manufacturer and seller of tabletop sweeteners such as Equal, Canderel and Pure Via.ref,ref,ref
  • 2014: The Nutrasweet Company exited the Aspartame business, to focus on more profitable lines of sugar substitutes.ref,ref In Jun.2018, JW Childs sold substantially all of Nutrasweet's assets to Manus Bio Inc, who reopened the plant in Augusta, Georgia to produce the next generation of sweeteners,ref,ref an engineered bacterium and fermentation process that produces low-cost quantities of rebaudioside M, the zero-calorie natural sweetener found in the stevia plant.ref
  • 2012: Beeologics, a small company based in Israel, was acquired. The ingenious researchers were using a sweet syrup and a Nobel prize winning discovery they hoped would lead to a safer method of controlling Varroa mites. Expected to be under the umbrella of BioDirect Technology, researchers continued exploring how a naturally occurring process called “RNA Interference” could be developed into a product that could help honey bees resist infestation.ref
  • Jan.2010: Wayzata Investment Partners, a private equity group focused on acquiring controlling interests in companies through distressed debt investing, took possession of the Merisant Company.ref
  • Jan.2009: Merisant Worldwide Inc and five affiliates filed for protection from creditors with the US Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. A week later, Merisant obtained debtor-in-possession financing from Wayzata Investment Partners LLC to fund operations while it restructures debt.[ref ref]
  • 2006: A judge ruled that the US Dept of Agriculture violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to conduct even minimal investigation into whether GMO"pharma crops" could harm endangered species.
  • Apr.2005: Emergent Genetics Inc, an international seed biotech company and the third largest cotton seed company in the U.S., was acquired. Emergent Genetics Vegetable A/S, which was excluded from the Monsanto transaction, was later sold to Syngenta.ref,ref,ref,ref [www.emergentgenetics.com]
  • Jan.2005: Seminis, the world’s largest developer, grower, and marketer of vegetable and fruit seeds, the global leader in its industry, supplying more than 3,500 seed varieties to commercial fruit and vegetable growers, dealers, distributors, and wholesalers in more than 150 countries around the world.ref
  • Apr.2003: Pfizer Inc bought Pharmacia Corporation. The merged company will hold ~11% of the world's market for prescription drugs, bringing Rogaine for hair loss; Nicorette, the gum designed to wean smokers from cigarettes; Xalatan, a glaucoma treatment; Xanax, an anxiety treatment; Camptosar, a treatment for colorectal cancer; Eplerenone, a heart disease treatment; Celebrex, an anti-inflammatory drug; and Detrol, an overactive bladder treatment.ref,ref
  • 2003: PCB Pollution: Monsanto and Solutia agreed to pay $700m to 20,000+ residents in Alabama, over widespread health problems from PCB contamination.
  • 2002: Bribery: Monsanto was fined $1.5m for bribing Indonesian officials to skip an environmental assessment of its GMO cotton.
  • Oct.2000: Monsanto Company: Pharmacia Corporation spun off its agro-biotech subsidiary into a new company, focused on 4 key agricultural crops: soybeans, maize, wheat and cotton. Pharmacia retained Monsanto's pharmaceutical division, formed from the GD Searle acquisition in Aug.1985.ref,ref
  • May.2000: Nutrasweet: Monsanto exited its business in consumer and bulk food ingredients with the sale of:
  • Dec.1999: Pharmacia Corporation: Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc merged with Monsanto and renamed itself.ref,ref
  • Dec.1999: Opponents to genetically modified food filed a class-action lawsuit against Monsanto, accusesing Monsanto of controlling prices and restricting the trade of its genetically modified corn.
  • Oct.1999: Kelco Alginates, the algins business, was sold to International Specialty Products.ref ISP was later acquired by Ashland Global Holdings Inc in May.2011.ref,ref
  • Oct.1999: Terminator Seeds: In the face of opposition from agricultural and environmental groups, and in an attempt to improve its image, Monsanto discontinued its "terminator" seeds, which become sterile in the 2nd generation.
  • Aug.1999: Monsanto announced plans to divest its ingredients businesses, which included the Equal and NutraSweet brand names.
  • 1998: Expansion: $2bn in revolving credit was secured to fund major seed acquisitions, including DeKalb Genetics Corporation, Delta Pine & Land, Plant Breeding International Cambridge, and Cargill's international seed operations.
  • Jun.1998: Monsanto and American Home Products Corp announce their intent to merge. The resulting life science company would be the world’s largest, holding significant chunks of the agricultural chemicals, seed, pharmaceuticals, and nutritional products markets. The deal falls apart after executive squabbles about who would hold the reins.
  • 1998: Bribery: Canadian govt scientists accuse Monsanto of bribe attempts in obtaining approval of the drug Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) in Canada.
  • 1997: Holden's Foundation Seeds Inc, the last remaining independent seed company in the United States, was acquired, together with its exclusive sales agents, Corn States Hybrid Service Inc and Corn States International. Monsanto and ArQule Inc agreed on a 5-year contract to develop new agrochemicals.
  • Feb.1997: Bill Clinton named Monsanto as one of 5 companies he enlisted to kick off a national effort to create jobs for former welfare recipients.
  • 1997: Solutia: the chemical operations were spun off into a newly formed public company.
  • 1996: DeKalb Genetics Corporation: Monsanto entered the maize seed business by acquiring a 40% stake; in 1998, the outstanding 60% was purchased.ref
  • 1996: Calgene Inc: Monsanto increased its stake to 55%, thus obtaining majority ownership, and control of the board of directors.ref
  • 1996: Asgrow Seed was acquired, the 2nd largest US soybean-seed marketer; also acquired the plant biotechnology assets of WR Grace’s Agracetus unit.
  • 1996: Monsanto received a patent for its synthetic genes that allow plants to create their own insecticides. The company filed patent infringement suits against rivals Ciba-Geigy AG and Mycogen Corporation for their uses of the gene.
  • 1996: DeKalb Genetics Corporation agreed to jointly research and develop agricultural biotechnology with Monsanto for the next 10 years. Both companies obtained licensing revenues for products developed during the cooperative efforts.
  • 1996: RoundUp Ultra: an improved version, with increased product safety and faster absorption by weeds.
    RoundUp Ready Soybeans: the company's first genetically engineered, pesticide-promoting seed.
    Insect-resistant Cotton the first GE insect-resistant cotton, which produces its own insectide.
    Aspartame: scientists find that it could pose health risks to consumers.
  • 1995: USDA approval to market a genetically engineered tomato designed to ripen later than normal is granted.
  • 1995: GMOs: The EPA gave its first ever approval for growing of plants bio-engineered to produce their own pesticide. Monsanto may plant, but not sell, potatoes, corn and cotton crops that are genetically altered to produce an insecticide.
  • 1995: Calgene Inc: a 49.9% stake was acquired, as well as certain patent and technology rights.
  • 1994: Akzo Nobel NV and Monsanto agreed to merge their rubber and chemical operations into a 50/50 joint venture, based in Belgium.
  • 1994: Kelco, Merck & Company Inc's specialty chemicals unit, was acquired.
  • 1994: Environmental Pollution: Monsanto was ordered to pay $81.4m in damages to International Technology Corp. for the cleanup of a Texas site; a few months later the amount was reduced to $43.7m. In 1995, Monsanto agreed to pay $41m to close the case.
  • 1993: Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH): Monsanto spent $300m over 10 years to develop a genetically-engineered product similar to the hormone produced in cows which controls milk production. Despite objections from dairy farmers and veterinarians, the product was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
  • Feb.1992: Maxaquin (lomefloxacin) received US approval to be used as the first one-a-day quinolone antibiotic medication.
  • Jan.1988: Simplesse was introduced, a protein-based fat substitute derived from milk proteins, licensed from CP Kelco, a NutraSweet subsidiary.ref,ref,ref,History,info,info,info,CP Kelco.archArchive-org-sm.svg
  • 1988: Patients in Need expanded, a program providing free Searle medications to people who do not qualify for govt assistance, and who have no health insurance.
  • Oct.1985: Copper 7 IUD: GD Searle and Company manufactured the Copper 7 intrauterine device (IUD); hundreds of lawsuits over the Copper 7 surfaced, along with allegations that Searle worked to alter a lab testing report before the device was approved.ref In 1986, sales of IUDs were discontinued in the USA.
  • Aug.1985: Pharmaceutical producer GD Searle & Company, a company focusing on pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and animal health, was acquired. GD Searle developed the first female birth control pill in 1960, and invented/discovered aspartame in 1965. The aspartame business became a separate Monsanto subsidiary, the NutraSweet Company, operating as part of the Monsanto Company Life Sciences Division.ref
    Petrochemical businesses were divested.
  • 1984: Funding Research: Monsanto entered a 5-year agreement with Washington University Medical School, where it provided $23.5m for research focusing on proteins and peptides.
  • 1984: Price-fixing: Monsanto lost a $10m antitrust suit to Spray-Rite, a former distributor of Monsanto agricultural herbicides; the US Supreme Court upheld the suit and award, finding that Monsanto did act to fix retail prices with other herbicide manufacturers.
  • 1979: Agent Orange: A suit was filed against Monsanto and other manufacturers of Agent Orange, a defoliant used during the Vietnam War; claims were made that the dioxin in Agent Orange has caused permanent damage to hundreds of veterans. In 1984, Monsanto and 7 other manufacturers agreed to a $180m settlement, immediately prior to the beginning of the trial.
  • 1976: PCBs: the company announced plans to phase out production of polychlorinated biphenyl, a huge environmental pollutant.
  • 1976: Roundup introduced, a synthetic chemical herbicide, whose overuse soon creates glyphosate-resistant Super Weeds.
  • 1964: Monsanto became involved in nylon and acrylic fiber production, oil and gas exploration, fabricated plastic production, and the manufacture of thousands of specialty and commodity chemical products. In response to mounting environmental concern, it introduced biodegradeable detergents to its product line.
  • 1964: Monsanto Company: The word "Chemical" was dropped from the company's name.
  • 1962: Brussels, Belgium became the company’s permanent overseas headquarters.
  • 1956: Randox forms the foundation for its agricultural group; a herbicide able to stop weeds before they break ground.
    The US Navy refused to buy hydraulic fluid after safety tests associated it with "definite liver damage".
  • 1955: Lion Oil acquired.
  • 1949: Chemstranc Corp: Monsanto combines forces with American Viscose. Monsanto’s research in polymers, plus Viscose’s experience in textile marketing, makes inroads into the new synthetic fibre field. Operations in Spain and Australia begin, as well as synthetic rubber production.
  • 1945: DDT and @,4-D production. 2,4-D was used in Agent OrangeWikipedia-W.svg during the Vietnam War.
  • 1940s: Polystyrene production commenced. This is Styrofoam's main component; manufacture creates large amounts of hazardous waste.
  • 1933: Monsanto started manufacturing phosphorus.
  • Apr.1933: Monsanto Chemical Company was incorporated.
  • 1929: PCBs: Monsanto began production of polychlorinated biphenyls, now-banned carcinogenic chemicals. Dioxins, a manufacturing byproduct, are dangerous environmental pollutants.
    Acquired Rubber Services Laboratories Co. of Ohio, and Nitro of West Virginia, giving Monsanto entry into key rubber chemical markets.
  • 1927: Monsanto went public on the Chicago Stock Exchange.
  • 1920: Monsanto went international with a 50% venture in a North Wales firm that, at the time, was the world’s largest producer of phenol and cresol.
  • 1918: The USA entered World War I, and Monsanto began producing strategic products, including aspirin and phenol, used as an antiseptic. Production of styrene, a component of synthetic rubber, was vital to the war effort during World War II.
  • 1905: The company started producing caffeine and vanillin.
  • 1901: Monsanto Chemical Works: Swiss chemist Dr Louis Veillon and John F Queeny began producing saccharin in a St. Louis warehouse.

Sources: Monsanto History & Chronology, Monsanto's Chemical Romance, ...

ToDo: Ref. for Business

Articles

See Guardian: Herbicides

  • Aug.13.2018: Monsanto loses glyphosate cancer case. Environment Minister Eugenie Sage has said she will be asking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to consider adding Roundup to a list of hazardous substances up for reassessment. Her actions follow a landmark verdict which saw a San Francisco jury grant US$289m ($440m) to a groundskeeper who said his lymphoma resulted from years of applying Monsanto’s trademarked Roundup herbicide, which did not include adequate warning of its links to cancer. Monsanto plans to appeal the verdict. Expert Reactions, Science Media Centre.
  • Aug.11.2018: Homebase to review sale of Monsanto weedkiller after US cancer verdict. Roundup was ruled by a Californian jury to have caused Dewayne Johnson’s lymphoma. The manufacturer of the weedkiller, Monsanto, has insisted that British consumers are safe to continue using Roundup products, which are widely sold at DIY stores and used by British farmers. But a spokesperson for Homebase said it would be reviewing its product range after the ruling in California. Patrick Greenfield, The Guardian.
  • Aug.08.2018: First Monsanto-Roundup Cancer Trial Goes To Jury In San Francisco. In a historic first, a California Jury is now deliberating whether Monsanto's Roundup weed killer gave a school groundskeeper terminal cancer, after lawyers for both sides delivered their closing arguments on Tuesday. Monsanto is a unit of Bayer AG following a $62.5 bn takeover by the German multinational conglomerate. Monsanto's attorneys deny the allegations and refuted expert testimony relied on by Johnson and others as unreliable, claiming it does not satisfy any scientific or legal requirements. In Septe.2017 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded that glyphosates were not likely carcinogenic to humans, based on a decades-long assessment. In 2015, the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s cancer arm issued an opposite statement - warning that glyphosate was "probably carcinogenic to humans." Johnson's case isn't part of the consolidated proceedings in Missouri, Delaware or California state court, where most of the cases are pending. It's also separate from a federal multidistrict litigation waiting to be heard by US District Judge Vance Chhabria of San Francisco - who allowed hundreds of Roundup lawsuits to proceed to trial after ruling that there was sufficient evidence for a jury to hear the cases despite calling a plaintiff's expert opinions "shaky." Documents released in Aug.2017 led to questions over Monsanto's efforts to influence the news media and scientific research and revealed internal debate over the safety of its highest-profile product, the weed killer Roundup. As the New York Times noted last year, new internal emails, among other things, reveal ethical objections from former employees to "ghost writing" research studies that were pawned off as 'independent' analyses. The newly disclosed emails also reveal internal discussions which cast some doubt over whether internal scientists actually believed in the company's external messaging that Roundup was, in fact, safe. ... newly unsealed court documents released earlier today seemingly reveal a startling effort on the part of both Monsanto and the EPA to work in concert to kill and/or discredit independent, albeit inconvenient, cancer research conducted by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). ... more. Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge. DDG search
  • Jun.21.2018: LSI - Episode 6 - How to get away with bad data. Earlier this year, Corporate Europe Observatory caught agri-giant Monsanto under-declaring their lobby spending by at least 1 million euros. Last year, Monsanto was the protagonist in several policy battles, including the highly controversial re-approval of the pesticide glyphosate and the merger with German agri-giant Bayer. These were heavily disputed issues which put the US giant at the centre of media attention and raised questions over its real influence on EU policy. The name of the company has come to be so toxic that Bayer has decided to scrap it entirely. ... most of its activities in influencing the EU seem to be done by others, from lobby firms to industry coalitions, but Monsanto had not declared all these links in its own entry. After the Secretariat’s intervention, the firm merely added two new names to their entry. One was the #Glyphosate Task Force, listed not by its name but under the acronym GTF, making it indecipherable for most people. Even worse, the Glyphosate Task Force itself was not registered. This was despite being created exclusively to influence EU policy, being listed as a client of lobby firm Hume Brophy, and even exchanging correspondence with Commissioners and EU officials. The Secretariat asked the Glyphosate Task Force to register. Months later, it still has not. ALTER-EU.
  • Feb.02.2018: Monsanto weedkiller is killing humans – America’s Lawyer. The story with Monsanto’s [Roundup] begins as early as the 1980s when laboratory tests on glyphosate began to show cellular changes in laboratory animals that should’ve been considered early signals of a relationship clearly to cancer. In 1985 the EPA determined that glyphosate, the primary ingredient in Roundup, needed to be classified as a Class C carcinogen, which meant that it clearly suggests a relationship to cancer. But then miraculously for some reason 6 years later the EPA suddenly changed that classification to something just the opposite. Now they were saying that they were wrong to classify it as a possible carcinogen and that the public had nothing to worry about when using products that contained this chemical. Then all of a sudden the laboratory data from the early ’80s that the EPA use to classify glyphosate as cancer suddenly became unavailable to the public. Why? Because Monsanto argued that all the early testing results for this chemical fell under a protection of trade secret rule, meaning they didn’t have to share this information with the general public. It was theirs. They were going to keep it quiet. (more...) Mike Papantonio, GM Watch.
  • Jan.19.2018: Most genome edited crops fall under GMO food laws according to new legal opinion – expert. In a preliminary legal opinion for the European Court of Justice, advocate general Michal Bobek advised that “organisms obtained by mutagenesis” should not be seen as genetically modified, unless they contained recombinant nucleic acid molecules or other GM organisms.The new legal opinion has given rise to controversy, with some NGOs concerned that the advocate general has opened the door for some of these techniques to be exempt from the risk assessment, traceability and labelling regulations that normally apply to GMOs. GM Watch.
  • Jan.18.2018: Glyphosate: European Parliament group presidents endorse Special Committee. Following the glyphosate scandal, the European Parliament will set up a committee to analyse and assess the authorisation procedure for pesticides. The Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament endorsed the mandate of a Special Committee today. The decision will be endorsed by the next plenary. The constituent meeting is expected in March 2018. GM Watch, '
  • Jan.18.2018: Modern mutagenesis techniques are genetic engineering and give rise to GMOs. On Thursday 18 January, the European Court of Justice published the opinion of its Advocate General on the legal status of modern "targeted" mutagenesis, including some of the GMO techniques known as "new breeding techniques." This opinion confirms what civil society and the Greens/EFA have said from the beginning: these are not “breeding techniques” but GMO techniques. This is a clear victory against a corporate newspeak aimed at creating false public acceptance. GM Watch, '
  • Jan.18.2015: Monsanto's Newest GMO Food Weapon... Wheat "The USDA is made up of a lot of former Monsanto employees and lobbyists and it's really a revolving door..." (12:50) YouTube, Linc Austin
  • Jan.17.2018: More pesticide runoff from no-till fields than ploughed fields. No-till farming with GM herbicide-tolerant crops, in which herbicides are used to control weeds instead of ploughing, is constantly hyped for its supposed environmental benefits – which, however, are dubious at best and completely invalid at worst. Now a new study (abstract below) has found that the concentration and the load of pesticides are greater in runoff from no-till fields, especially pesticides with high solubility and low affinity for solids, compared with ploughed fields. No-till farming was found to affect soil properties that control pesticide retention and interactions with soils, and ultimately their mobility in the environment. GM Watch.
  • Jan.11.2018: Monsanto looking to sell dicamba-resistant GM soy seed in Brazil. The Brazilian unit of seed and agrochemicals maker Monsanto on Thursday said it will run field tests with genetically modified soy seed INTACTA2 XTEND in Brazil in the 2019-20 crop, looking to launch the variety commercially the following year. Reuters.
  • Jan.10.2018: Glyphosate and GM crops are harming no-till soils. No-Till Farmer is a magazine aimed at farmers who grow GM glyphosate-tolerant corn and soybeans using herbicides instead of ploughing to control weeds. In a revealing sign of the times, the magazine has published an article detailing the serious problems of soil and plant health caused by the application of glyphosate on these GM crops in no-till systems. GM Watch.
  • Jan.08.2018: Glyphosate herbicides contain toxic heavy metals, including arsenic. Glyphosate-based herbicides contain toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, chromium and nickel, a new study has found. These are not declared and are normally banned due to their toxicity. They are also known to be endocrine (hormone) disruptors. The toxic heavy metals were found at levels well above those permitted in drinking water. They were detected in 22 pesticides, including 11 glyphosate-based ones. All the pesticide formulations tested except one contained a cocktail of toxic heavy metals. Commenting on the contamination, the researchers stated, "This phenomenon ... appears to be widely distributed in the world, as our samples came from the European Union and North America." GM Watch.
  • Jan.06.2018: GM crops in Brazil have driven up pesticide use. Following the adoption of GM crops, overall pesticide use in Brazil increased 1.6-fold between the years 2000 and 2012. The cumulative growth in pesticide use was three times higher than the growth in productivity (kg/ha) and 10 times higher than population growth for the same period. Each year, pesticide use per capita increased by 7%, while productivity increased by only 3.5%. GM Watch , '
  • Jan.05.2018: New article challenges commentaries linking glyphosate to wide range of diseases. The article, authored by Dr Robin Mesnage and Dr Michael Antoniou of King's College London, controversially concludes that Samsel and Seneff’s claims "are not supported by the available scientific evidence. Thus, the mechanisms and vast range of conditions proposed to result from glyphosate toxicity presented by Samsel and Seneff in their commentaries are at best unsubstantiated theories, speculations, or simply incorrect." GM Watch, '
  • Jan.01.2018: Roundup causes changes in gut microbiome of rats. An environmentally relevant concentration of Roundup caused changes in the gut microbiome of rats, according to a new study published by the group of Prof Gilles-Eric Séralini at the University of Caen, France. GMWatch , '

2017

  • Nov.17.2017: India: GM Bt cotton falls victim to pest it's supposed to resist. Pest attacks have led to heavy spraying of pesticides, which have poisoned and killed at least 40 farmers. Reports have emerged from Maharashtra of a sudden surge in pink bollworm and other pest attacks on GM Bt cotton crops. GMWatch, '
  • Dec.21.2017: Food Safety Threatened as Biosafety Agency permits Experimental GMO Cassava. The Health of Mother Health Foundation (HOMEF) and a coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have condemned the granting of a permit to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and ETHZ Plant Biotechnology Lab in Zurich to carry out Confined Field Trials (CFT) of genetically modified (GM) cassava (AMY3 RNAi Transgenic lines) in Ibadan by the Nigerian Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA). NBMA issued this permit despite HOMEF’s 37 pages objection[2] supported by 87 organisations, outlining why this classic staple crop should not be toyed with by modern agricultural biotechnology merchants. Among our concerns is the fact that the genetic engineering technique used by IITA and ETZ to product this cassava has never been approved anywhere else in the world. This effectively makes Nigeria a testing field for risky, unregulated technologies. HomeF, '
  • Oct.24.2017: Beneath the Glyphosate headlines, a crucial battle for the future of EU pesticide approvals. "A non-re-authorisation of the substance would be a disaster for the industry", reads a note from a Mar.2016 meeting between pesticide industry lobbyists from the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) and members of Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan's cabinet. The "substance" in question is Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, the world's most widely-used pesticide and Monsanto's flagship product. True, an EU ban on this key ingredient in many weedkillers would be a major blow to the biotech and pesticide industry, its shareholders and its future owner Bayer. European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), IARC, big farm lobby COPA-COGECA, including EuropaBio, and grain traders’ lobby COCERAL, but also by a group called Consumer Choice Center (CCC). As Corporate Europe Observatory revealed recently, this grouping claims to represent consumers while it counts neoliberal US plutocrats and oil industry influencers the Koch Brothers among its main funders. EFSA, BfR and DG SANTE getting nervous too. German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) head Andreas Hensel is a strong defender of the current EU system that he told the Commissioner is "most robust". In the past he has breezily dismissed concerns over conflicts of interests, defending the fact that the pesticide committee of his agency Bfr includes Bayer and BASF employees (something that, in contrast, EFSA's rules on conflicts of interest would not allow), explaining to German newspaper TAZ that facts about products "can only be judged by those that work with them". Corporate Europe Observatory, '
  • Oct.11.2017: Opposition to Monsanto bio-piracy patent on soybeans rejected. Monsanto holds a patent (EP 2134870) which covers the use of hundreds of gene sequences that occur in natural soybean varieties and other similar species; they are used in conventional breeding. The European Patent Office (EPO) has today rejected the opposition filed by No Patents on Seeds! against the Monsanto patent. No Patents on Seeds! will now file an appeal as, according to European patent laws, patents on conventional breeding cannot be granted. The EPO stated that their reason for rejecting the opposition was that although patents cannot be granted on the conventional breeding of plants and animals, they can be granted on the selection of plants and animals for breeding. However, ‘No Patents on Seeds!’ points to the fact that the selection of plants and animals for breeding is inextricably linked to breeding. Therefore, the EPO interpretation of current legislation is unacceptable. No Patents On Seeds, '
  • Oct.09.2017: Last minute pro-Roundup lobbying ahead of high-level #MonsantoPapers hearing. Farmers' organisations caught in pesticide lobbies web. (ECPA, COPA-COGECA, Irish Farmers Association, British Farm Bureau, Richard Ashworth, John Agnew, FNSEA (France), UIPP (France), British Crop Protection Association, National Farmers' Union, Deutsche Bauern Verband (Germany), Graeme Taylor - Taylor Insights, ECHA, WHO, IARC, Steward Redqueen - Rene Kim, Willem Ruster, Hedda Eggeling (http://www.stewardredqueen.com/en/home). Corporate Europe Observatory,
  • Setp.25.2017: Glyphosate: EU Report on Risks Copied from Monsanto. A cut-and-paste job has jeopardized not only the credibility of European institutions but also the health of millions of farmers and consumers. The most controversial section of the report produced by the European scientific body EFSA, focusing on glyphosate’s genotoxicity, carcinogenicity and toxicity risks, has been copied word for word from the Monsanto-produced dossier. Slow Food.
  • Mar.28.2017: 4 tactics used by Monsanto to undermine potential link between glyphosate and cancer. 1. Suppress the science. 2: Attack the messenger. 3: Manufacture counterfeit science. 4: Undermine independent scientific assessment. The "Monsanto Papers" reveal the company’s plans to seed the scientific literature with a ghostwritten study, and its efforts to delay and prevent US govt assessments of the product’s safety. It’s complex. What is clear is that independent science bodies should be conducting their assessments on glyphosate without interference from outside players with a stake in the final determination. The stakes for public health – and for Monsanto’s bottom line – are enormous. Genna Reed, Nation of Change.
  • Jan.18.2017: Roundup Now Proven To Cause Liver Disease, And It’s In Your Food. Researchers at King’s College London have discovered that the popular weedkiller Roundup causes non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The two-year study performed on rats tested the effect of real-world glyphosate doses currently permitted by regulators. This is the first time that science has shown a direct causal link between the consumption of an extremely low dose of Roundup and a serious disease. Alex Petrowski, Natural Blaze.

2015

  • Feb.05.2015: Glyphosate Proven to Be Making Milk Toxic. Could it be doing the same to us? Researchers found that dairy cattle are affected adversely by glyphosate. Another study found disruption in the metabolism of cells at as little as .05 parts per million. Christina Sarich, Natural Society. Study is here: Field Investigations of Glyphosate in Urine of Danish Dairy Cows. Dairy cows were investigated for excretion of glyphosate in urine. Demonstrate a possible effect of glyphosate on liver and muscle cells. This study gives the first documentation to which extent Danish dairy cattle are exposed to Glyphosate and its impact on blood parameters. Monika Krüger1, Wieland Schrödl, Jürgen Neuhaus, Awad Ali Shehata, Journal of Environmental & Analytical Toxicology, Sept.2013.

2013

2012

  • Oct.10.2012: Why Glyphosate Should Be Banned. Glyphosate has contaminated land, water, air, and our food supply; the maximum permitted levels are set to rise by 100-150 times in the European Union if Monsanto gets its way as damning evidence of serious harm to health & the environment piles up. Dr Eva Sirinathsinghji, Dr Mae-Wan Ho, Institute of Science in Society.

2009

  • Nov.22.2009: Biotech bonanza Last year's global food crisis made millions for agro-giant Monsanto. Monsanto is the exemplar of all that is wrong with the world’s corporate-controlled food system. Monsanto has a damning history. It worked on the atomic bomb in the 1940s and produced the chemical weapon Agent Orange during the Vietnam war. More recently its herbicides have been used to devastating effect against coca-producing peasant farmers in Colombia. ... Tim Hunt, Red Pepper.
  • Jun.23.2009: Weed-Whacking Herbicide Proves Deadly to Human Cells. Used in gardens, farms, and parks around the world, the weed killer Roundup contains an ingredient that can suffocate human cells in a laboratory. Researchers have found that one of Roundup’s inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells. One specific inert ingredient, polyethoxylated tallowamine, or POEA, was more deadly to human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells than the herbicide itself. Crystal Gammon, Scientific American.

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