Monsanto - A century of lies, corruption, and depravity

Monsanto - A century of lies, corruption, and depravity

The Manhattan Project

Off to Vietnam

That's right. Monsanto scientists were directly involved (along with many others, of course) in the production of nuclear weapons. The devastation these weapons caused can still be seen in Hiroshima and Nagasaki even today, even still causing mutations and birth defects in those areas, not to mention those affected by nuclear testing. Nuclear arms arguably sparked an entire cold war and have affected cultures across the globe.

In a war many saw as tragic and misguided, full of unnecessary death and suffering, Monsanto saw only another way to make some big bucks! The US Military would use nearly 20,000,000 gallons of the extremely toxic herbicide Agent Orange throughout the Vietnam War, most of which was supplied by Monsanto. Overall, this destroyed nearly five million acres of South Vietnam's forests, roughly 20%. Later, it was discovered most of the crops destroyed by Agent Orange were being grown not to support guerrilla troops, but rather to feed the civilian population. This left many of the Vietnamese people not even invested in the war malnourished or starving.

Wheels of Progress

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring sheds light upon the truth about DDT - A horse that drank water from a spring that had been sprayed with DDT died ten hours later, a two-year-old boy died after being sprayed once with DDT. DDT is almost single-handedly responsible for the near-extinction of the California Condor. Following the publishing of Carson's book, there is public outcry against DDT and Monsanto stops producing it shortly before it is banned, although there is evidence they were always aware of its environmental implications. Even now, decades after its removal from the environment, traces of DDT can be found in California Condor eggs, causing birth defects.

All was quiet at Monsanto company for quite some time, but to company would continue to grow, and it would continue to do so on the same botched principles that had guided it from the very start. They would ignore the controversy surrounding saccharin, and in 1943 Monsanto scientists would become involved with a project even more controversial.

Agent Orange

Disaster!

The Age of Pesticides

A few facts:

• 4.8 Million Vietnamese people have been affected by Agent Orange
• Of these, 400,000 were outright killed or maimed.
• 500,000 have been born with crippling defects due to Agent Orange.
• Women in areas sprayed with Agent Orange continue to have higher rates of stillbirth and miscarriage, as do livestock.
• Up to one million people are disabled or have have health problems due to Agent Orange
• Children born in areas where areas where Agent Orange was used tend to have multiple health problems, including cleft palate, mental disabilities, hernias, and extra fingers and toes.
• High levels of Agent Orange have been found in the breast milk of Vietnamese women alive during the war, as well as in the blood of Vietnam War Veterans.

Agent Orange (Cont.)

Starting in the 1940s, Monsanto would become a big-name producer of a pesticide known as DDT. The pesticide was prized for its ability to kill malaria-carrying mosquitoes, but it was used on a grand scale before its environmental impacts were very well understood by the populace.

• The affects of Agent Orange are implanted into your genetic makeup, so these defects will not necessarily fade with time.
• Agent Orange has also been linked to a variety of skin diseases and various cancers.
• Despite all of this, Monsanto continues to refuse compensation either to the Vietnamese people or to US veterans for the immense damages caused by Agent Orange, stubbornly claiming their herbicide is harmless despite a plethora of research and evidence to the contrary. Agent Orange has been banned by the United Nations for its devastating long-term effects.
• Aside from its affects on human health, Agent Orange has greatly damaged the environment of Vietnam in areas it was sprayed, drastically reducing biodiversity and leaving little chance for reforestation.

GMO's

Starting in the 1980's, Monsanto began tampering with genetically modified crops. This is when they began to transform from the chemical manufacturer into the agricultural behemoth we all know and fear. Genetically modified crops are still not very well understood for something we put in our bodies, and their presence has been the bane of local or small-time agricultural figures. We have all been in Ms. Kuhn's class and seen Food Inc, so I will not spend too much time on this "common knowledge".

Seemingly Harmless?

The Early Days

In 1907, the USDA would investigate saccharin as a result of the pure food and drug act. Results would horrify the populace. Harvey Wiley, President of the US Department of Food and Agriculture, said this to president Theodore Roosevelt regarding Saccharin:

"Everyone who ate that sweet corn (containing saccharin) was deceived. He thought he was eating sugar, when in point of fact he was eating a coal tar product totally devoid of food value and extremely injurious to health."

Furthermore, a 1970s study linked saccharin to bladder cancer in lab rats. A troubled start, but unfortunately this is the least of Monsanto's misdeeds.

Monsanto was founded in a little town called Saint Louis, Missouri, by a man named John Francis Queeny, a veteran of the Pharmeceutical industry. Monsanto was a chemical company, and their first product would be a seemingly harmless artificial sweetener known as saccharin.

My Struggle

My Mentor

Field Trip!

Essential Question

How has Monsanto company grown and evolved over the years and what are the social, cultural, and, most importantly, environmental implications of their presence in the world, especially America?