Mon Santo

A multi-national agriculture based company. Big on genetically modified foods, etc. Take a look at http://www.purefood.org/monlink.htm for some more info.

Guess what axe "purefood.org" has to grind? --AndyPierce

I dunno Andy, the axe of not running into yet another massive failure (e.g. atlantic cod fishery, NA forestry, etc. etc. ad. nauseam) due to relying on poorly understood technologies operating in a little understood domain?

Explain how genetically modified food contributed to the decline of the atlantic cod fishery and NA forestry?

I don't think he sees a link between them. More likely he sees the same cowboy attitude...

For another point of view, look at http://www.whybiotech.com --MikeCorum

Monsanto were the creators and manufacturers of AgentOrange?, as used in the VietnamWar.

I thought it was DuPont?.

A bunch of companies did (Monsanto was in there).

--I believe that Monsanto at the time was primarily a chemicals company, going back to the second World war. They branched into fertilizers and such afterward ('we have all this nitrogen/ammonia from bomb production...now what?'). Later (in the 80's I think), they split the company into the agri-tech firm (which kept the Monsanto name and a chemical company that has been purchased back by the agri-tech side.

Let's not forget the (provably) knowing poisoning of a small Alabama town with PCB's : http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/010405/monsanto.shtml

That's a subtle one as well. Solutia is actually the company involved in that news story but some court documents refer to Monsanto because that was the name of the company at the time. --MikeCorum

From http://www.theonion.com 2002.02.27

Genetically Modified Broccoli Shrieks Benefits At Shopper

BREMERTON, WA� A head of genetically modified broccoli shrieked its numerous benefits at shoppers Monday in a Seattle-area Safeway. "I contain 40 percent more vitamin A than non-modified broccoli!" the head screeched at terrified produce-aisle customers. "I can fight off insects and disease without the use of pesticides!" Monsanto, makers of the vegetable, stressed that genetic-modification technology is still in its infancy, and that more pleasantly voiced broccoli should hit store shelves by 2003.

Merged from MonsantoCorporation

Monsanto and their subsidiaries manufacture most of the chemicals you keep around your house. They also make grains that don't breed true, part of the wonderful GreenRevolution? that keeps the world's farmers in work and in the red.

Monsanto is not a chemical company. They sold the chemical business about 5 years ago. I'm not sure what "grains that don't breed true" means. I think there is another Wiki-word, MonSanto.

They didn't sell the chemical business, just renamed it and spun it off.

And that differs from selling it off how?

Names change, chemicals stay the same. The parent corp. still makes NutraSweet, most herbicides, and a whole bunch of other nasty stuff.

Herbicides are "nasty stuff"? Have you got a better way to remove unwanted plants? Note that both child labor and slavery are both currently frowned-upon practices.

As for "don't breed true", Monsanto manufactures hybrid grains - they're wonderfully sturdy and yield much larger crops than regular breeds, but you can't plant the 2nd generation - you get crap plants. See http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/envirohort/factsheets2/landsnurs/jul91pr4.html for a quick summary. Monsanto recently claimed to have shelved a still nastier scheme that would have made the seeds entirely sterile: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/oct99/1999L-10-06-02.html . But they have a ton of patents along those lines - and more coming down the pike. Corporate benefactors of humanity, those kind folks at Monsanto.

You do seem to have some issues with Monsanto here. When you say "the parent corp.", are you saying that Monsanto is the parent corporation of Solutia? If so, that is not the case. You are behind the times on your NutraSweet information also. Your last sentence about corporate benefactors and kind folks seems to be said in a sarcastic tone. My understanding is that Monsanto gave away the Rice genome to the public even though they spent a large amount of money sequencing it. This may seem to be an obvious public relations effort but it has very big consequences for Monsanto and the world.