Monsanto or Monsatan?

Thanks for deciding to check out our blog. We are Ricardo Horna, Charlotte Radu, Amanda Ward, and Colleen Cosgrove and we are students at The Florida State University. We are part of an Environmental media class and would like to present the information we gather on a topic of special interest. On this blog we will be updating you on informations about Monsanto, a US based agricultural, multinational biotechnology corporation. Monsanto has been a very controversial company due to its aggressive litigation and political lobbying practices. Most entries will deal with specific issues and cases Monsanto deals with and has dealt with. To start off here is some background information on Monsanto!

Monsanto farms are a US based company who is credited with created a genetically modified crop called roundup. The headquarters operates out of Missouri and they are responsible for the sale of 90% of all genetically engineered crops. The company was founded from a pharmacist in 1901 that used his own money and some profit from a soft drink company that he worked with. He gave the company his wife’s maiden last name and began by making artificial sweetener, which they then sold to Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola then began to use Monsanto as one of their main suppliers. Over the next few decades and into the 1940’s they became a large distributer of sulfuric acid and plastics and are one of the US’s top ten chemical companies. They have also helped in the creation of some controversial chemicals like DDT, Agent Orange and even nuclear weapons. DDT was eventually banned in 1972 by environmentalists and this proved to be the beginning of many controversial times for Monsanto. In 1982 Monsanto is credited with creating the first genetically modified plant, which then moved them from being a largely chemical company to a more biotechnical company. Beginning in 2005 Monsanto sued many small farmers for copy right infringement of their crops and many cases have developed since, both for and against them.