Monsanto: A checkered history

Ecologist

Volumn 28, Issue 5, 1998, Pages 254-261

  Tokar, Brian ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ECOLOGY;

BIOTECHNOLOGY; CHEMICAL INDUSTRY;

EID: 0344177946     PISSN: 02613131     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (58)

1. Chemical Producers: Dow Chemical, DuPont, Monsanto and Union Carbide have ranked among Top 10 biggest chemical makers since 1940.Chemical and Engineering News, January 12, 1998, p. 193.
2. Marc S. Reisch, From Coal Tar to Grafting a Wealth of Diversity, Chemical and Engineering News, January 12,1998, p. 90.
3. Pamela Peck, Vermont's Polystyrene (Styrofoam) Boycott, Barre, Vermont: Vermonters Organized for Cleanup, 1989.
4. Theo Colbom, Dianne Dumanoski and John Pelerson Myers, Our Stolen Future, New York: Penguin Books, 1996, p. 90.
5. Michelle Allsopp, Pat Costner and Paul Johnson, Body of Evidence: The effects of chlorine on human health, University of Exeter, Greenpeace Research Laboratories, May 1995.
6. Colborn, et al, op. cit. 4, pp. 101-104.
7. Jonathan Kozol, Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools, New York: Crown Publishers, 1991, pp. 7, 20.
8. Death of Animals Laid to Chemical, New York Times, August 28, 1974, p. 36.
9. Colborn, et al, op. cit. 4, p. 116.
10. Times Beach Action Group, Citizen Inquiry Uncovers Blatant Violation of Environmental Law Surrounding the Proposed Times Beach Incinerator, St. Louis, November 1995.
11. Philip Shabccoff, A Fierce Green Fire: The American Environmental Movement, New York: Hill and Wang, 1993, pp. 210-212; Brian Tokar, Earth for Sale: Reclaiming Ecology in the Age of Corporate Greenwash, Boston: South End Press, 1997, pp. 59-60; Times Beach Action Group, ibid.
12. Lisa Martino-Taylor, Legacy of Doubt, Three River Confluence, No. 7/8, Fall 1997. p. 27.
13. Personal communication, August 5, 1998.
14. Peter Downs, Is the Pentagon Involved?, St. Louis Journalism Review, June 1998.
15. Peter H. Schuck, Agent Orange on Trial: Mass Toxic Disasters in the Courts, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1987, pp. 86-87, 155-164. Monsanto's share of Agent Orange production was 29.5 per cent, compared with Dow's market share of 28.6 per cent, however some batches of Agent Orange contained more than 47 times more dioxin than Dow's. The other defendants in the case were Hercules Chemical, Diamond Shamrock, T.H. Agriculture and Nutrition, Thompson Chemicals and Uniroyal.
16. Cate Jenkins, Criminal Investigation of Monsanto Corporation -Cover-up of Dioxin Contamination in Products - Falsification of Dioxin Health Studies, USEPA Regulatory Development Branch, November 1990.
17. Monsanto Corporation: A case study in greenwash science, in Jed Greer and Kenny Bruno, Greenwash: The Reality Behind Corporate Environmentalism, Penang, Malaysia: Third World Network, 1996, p. 141.
18. Jock Ferguson, Chemical company accused of hiding presence of dioxins, Toronto Globe and Mail, February 19, 1990, p. A9. The punitive damages in Kemner vs. Monsanto were overturned on appeal two years later.
19. Cate Jenkins, op. cit. 16.
20. Stock analyst Dain Bosworth, quoted in Kenny Bruno, Say it Ain't Soy, Monsanto, Multinational Monitor, Vol. 18, No. 1-2, January/February 1997; Mark Arax and Jeanne Brokaw, No Way Around Roundup, Mother Jones, JanuaryFebruary 1997.
21. Testimony of Champion Paper Company, Vermont Forest Resources Advisory Council, Island Pond, Vermont, June 26,1996.
22. Pesticide Action Network North America, Monsanto Agress to Change Ads and EPA Fines Northrup King, January 10, 1997.
23. Case of Mislabelled Herbicide Results in $225,000 Penalty, Wall Street Journal, March25, 1998, p. B9.
24. J. Greer and K. Bruno, op. cit. 17, pp. 145-46.
25. Cited in Sarah Anderson and John Cavanagh, The Top 10 List, The Nation, Decembers, 1997, p. 8
26. Quoted in Peter Montague, Brain Cancer Update, Rachel's Environment and Health Weekly, November 14, 1996.
27. Erik Millstone, Increasing Brain Tumour Rates: Is There a Link to Aspaname? University of Sussex Science Policy Research Unit, October 1996.
28. Ibid.
29. Richard Koenig, Rich in New Products, Monsanto Must-Only Get Them on the Market, Wall Street Journal, May 18, 1990.
30. Craig Canine, Hear No Evil, Eating Well, July/August 1991, pp. 41-47; Brian Tokar, The False Promise of Biotechnology, Z Magazine, February 1992, pp. 2732; Debbie Brighton, Cow Safety, BGH and Burroughs, Organic Farmer, Spring 1990, p. 21.
31. Andrew Christianscn, Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone: Alarming Tests, Unfounded Approval, Rural Vermont, July 1995; also B. Tokar, op. cit. 11, pp. 28-29.
32. A. Christiansen, ibid., pp. 10, 17; U.S. General Accounting Office, PDA's Review of Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone, August 6, 1992 (GAO/PEMD-92-96).
33. Mark Kastei, Down on the Farm: The Real BGH Story, Rural Vermont, Fall 1995.
34. Brian Tokar, Biotechnology: The debate heats up, Z Magazine, June 1995, pp. 49-55; Diane Gershon, Monsanto sues over BST, Nature, Vol. 368, March 31, 1994, p. 384. The Vermont state labelling law was defended by the state on the grounds of consumer preference, rather than public health, and was ultimately struck down by a federal judge, who ruled that mandatory rBGH labelling was a violation of the companies' constitutional right to refuse to speak.
35. D S Kronfeld, Health management of dairy herds treated with bovine somatotropin. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Vol. 204, No. 1, January 1994, pp. 116-130; Samuel S. Epstein, Unlabelled Milk from Cows Treated with Biosynthetic Growth Hormones: A Case of Regulatory Abdication, International Journal of Health Sen ices. Vol. 26, No. 1, 1996, pp. 173-185.
36. Sonja Schmilz, Cloning Profits: The Revolution in Agricultural Biotechnology, University of Vermont, 1998, to be published.
37. Op.cit. 20.
38. Monsanto Company 1997 Annual Report, pp. 16,37.
39. Roundup Ready Soybean: A Critique of Monsanto's Risk Evaluation, Greenpeace (Chicago, USA. 1997.
40. Hope Shand, Bacillus Thuringiensis: Industry Frenzy and a Host of Issues, Journal of Pesticide Reform, Vol. 9, No. 1, Spring 1989, pp. 18-21; Ricarda A. Steinbrecher, From Green to Gene Revolution: The Environmental Risks of Genetically Engineered Crops, The Ecologist, Vol. 26, No. 6, November/December 1996. pp. 273-281; Brian Tokar, Biotechnology vs. Biodiversity, Wild Earth, Vol. 6, No. 1, Spring 1996, pp. 50-55.
41. Union of Concerned Scientists, EPA Requires Large Refuges, The Gene Exchange, Summer 1998, p.l; Union of Concerned Scientists, Transgenic insectresistant crops harm beneficial insects, The Gene Exchange, Summer 1998, p. 4; Union of Concerned Scientists, Managing Resistance to Bt, The Gene Exchange, Vol. 6, No. 2/3, December 1995, pp. 4-7.
42. Allen R. Myerson, Monsanto Paying Delta Fanners to Settle Genetic Seed Complaints, New York Times, February 24, 1998, p. D9; Monsanto to Pay Cotton Fanners, Financial Times (US Edition) February 25, 1998; Union of Concerned Scientists, Mississippi Seed Arbitration Council Rules Against Monsanto, The Gene Exchange, Summer 1998, p.l.
43. Union of Concerned Scientists, Bt Cotton Fails to Control Bollworm, The Gene Exchange, Vol. 7, No. 1, December 1996, p. 1 ; Susan Benson, Mark Arax and Rachel Burstein, A Growing Concern, Mother Jones, January/February 1997; Anne Reifenberg and Rhonda L. Rundle, Buggy Cotton May Cast Doubt On New Seeds, Wall Street Journal, July 23, 1996.
44. Union of Concerned Scientists, Unexpected Boll Drop in Glyphosate-Resistant Cotton, The Gene Exchange, Fall 1997, p.l; Pesticide Action Network North America, Problems with Herbicide Tolerant Cotton in US, October 7, 1997.
45. RAFI Communiqué, The Life Industry 1997: The Global Enterprises that Dominate Commercial Agriculture, Food and Health, Rural Advancement Foundation International, November/December 1997. The comment about Asgrow was quoted by Brewster Kneen in The Ram's Horn, No. 160, June 1998, p. 2.
46. Monsanto Company 1997 Annual Report, p. 17; RAFI Communiqué, op. cit.45 Union of Concerned Scientists, Expanding in New Dimensions: Monsanto and the Food System, The Gene Exchange, December 1996, p. 11.
47. Edward Hammond, Pat Mooney and Hope Shand, Monsanto Takes Terminator, Rural Advancement Foundation International, May 14, 1998.
48. RAFI Communiqué, op. cit. 45
49. Investigation: Police close circle around illegal cultivation of soybeans, Correio Braziliense, January 31, 1998..
50. Peter Montague, Genetic Engineering Error, Rachel's Environment and Health Weekly, June 5, 1997.
51. Beth Burrows, Government Workers Go Biotech, Edmonds Institute, May 19, 1997.
52. See, for example. Senator Al Gore, Planning a New Biotechnology Policy, Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, Vol. 5, Fall 1991, pp. 19-30.
53. Genentech Names Moore New Head of Government Affairs Office Based in Washington, DC, Genentech company press release, April 13, 1998.
54. Monsanto World \Vide Web page: http://www.monsanto.com/MonPub/NewMonsanto/Officers/BioShapiro.html
55. Mary Scott, Interview: Robert Shapiro - Can we trust the maker of Agent Orange to genetically engineer our food?, Business Ethics, January/February 1996, p. 49.
56. Joan Magretta, Grow th Through Sustainability: An Interview w ith Monsanto's CEO, Robert Shapiro, Harvard Business Review, January-February 1997, pp. 8081.
57. Monsanto Company 1997 Annual Report, p. 10.
58. See, for example, Vandana Shiva, The Violence of the Green Revolution: Third World Agriculture, Ecology, and Politics, London: Zed Books, 1991.