-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- Pharmacia, that is: Pharma-C.I.A. is the new name for the well known purveyors of death previously known as Monsanto. Let us all keep the momentum against Monsanto in place, and not fall for the simple expediency of their name change - Pharma-cia = Monsanto. Pharmacia (= Monsanto) has brought us FrankenFoods, rBGH, Aspartame (the excitotoxic poison in "diet" Coke and the majority of other "diet" supermarket products) and last but not least: Bt genetically modified corn, spliced with gene to include a pesticide in the altered crop (yum.) & the recently failed: Terminator seeds & Water supply of the world as a corporate monopoly income source This company has simply one of the worst records on the planet for poisoning people and environment; for performing Fraudulent "science" testing; for using political pull to cover-up LIES and FRAUD, to coverup DEATH and DEBILITY directly caused by ASPARTAME (this coverup is carefully coordinated with FDA, as most of the others mentioned). Damaging the environment In the 1980s, Monsanto Corporation got a bad name for polluting every square foot of the planet with noxious PCBs, dioxin, and harmful pesticides. Now Monsanto is a leader in the biotech revolution that threatens to engineeer the genes of every food crop on the planet with potentially desasterous consequences for the environment. In 1996 Monsanto introduced its RoundUp Ready soybean - which has been geneticallyaltered to be resistant to the chemical herbicide glyphosate which is marketed by Monsanto as Roundup. The inbuilt resistance allows farmers to use the herbicide while the crop is growing. Other altered crops likeky to be marketed include maize, wheat, sugar beet, letuce, potatoes and poplar. Monsanto also owns 49.9 percent of Calgene, the maker of the Flavr Savr tomato engineered for longer shelf life. Irresponsible marketing Since April 1995, the U.S. FDA has reported over 10,000 volunteered consumer complaints stemming from NutraSweet (aka Equal , Aspartame). Among the symptoms listed are blindness seizures, memory loss, loss of limb control, slurred speech, skin lesions, extremity numbness, depression, mood swings, anxiety attacks, coma and death. Absorbed very quickly into the bloodstream it metabolizes into six to eight byproducts including methyl alcohol and the class A carcinogen, formaldehyde. The ealy research history of aspartame was plagued with deception. Although the US FDA gave the pproduct approval, it latter emerged that the results of animal experiments had been manipulated to improve the results. Monsanto's herbicide Butachlor, marketed in foreigh countries as Machete and Lambast, has never been permanently approved by the EPA. Adverse effects of the chemical include weight loss, weight changes in internal organs, reduced brain size together with lesions. Butachlor, reports Multinational Monitor, can be found in the U.S. food supply. It's used in Argentina, Brazil, China, India, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Venezuela, which means that the majority of rice imports could contain it. Monsanto owns the drug company, G.D. Searle - producers of; Demulen, an oral contraceptive, is an estrogenic compound. Environmental scientists are linking estrogenic pollutants to breast cancer. Flagyl, an oral synthetic antiprotozoal and antibacterial, can cause convulsive seizures, peripheral neuropathy, a significant lessening of white blood corpuscles, and can make candida infections worse. Kerlone for "management of hypetension" can contribute to cardiac failure. Lomotil, the anti-diarrhea drug, has a number of adverse effects including tachycardia, vomiting, depression, numbness of extremities and pancreatitis. Animal Abuse Monsanto performs experiments on many thousand of animals each year. These tests are as pointless as ever since not only are the result of animal test inconclusive in terms of likely outcome in terms of humans, but Monsanto (like many other companies) has a been known to manipulate the results to meet their requirements (as was the case with aspartame). Monsanto's artificial bovine growth hormone BGH (Posilac) is designed to make cows produce more milk. Ingnoring the fact that no body needs more milk one of the problems with the use of the hormone is that it pushes the cow to the limits of production and causes illness such as Mastitis. In Monsanto's own words: "Use of Posilac has been associated with increases in cystic ovaries and disorders of the uterus...digestive disorders...enlarged hocks and lesions (lacerations, enlargements, calluses) of the knee..." On March 1993 the Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee of the FDA unanimously agreed with the Monsanto conclusion that "Cows injected with Posilac are at an increased risk for clinical mastitis." If you drink milk you will be pleased to know that this disease is treatment with high levels of antibiotics which no doubt find their way into the milk supply. Since the intriduction of BGH in the USA, reports of serious health and reproductive problems among U.S. cows have increased significantly. Further information: http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/AnimaLife/spring95/BGH.html - Background information http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/essays/posilac.html - Cancer threat http://www.monitor.net/rachel/r381.html - Milk, rBGH, and Biotechnology Censorship Monsanto has tried to intimidate farmers and retailers in the USA who label their milk products as BGH-free (see above). The corporation has actually brought lawsuits against such farmers and, through a related organization, has sued the state of Vermont over its premissive attitude toward BGH labeling. This seems an obvious encroachement on the Americas' First Amendment and is no doubt outrageous, but the Department of Justice appears to do nothing to stop it. Monsanto Corporation, a major manufacturer of phenoxy herbicides, in the late 1970s and early 1980s sponsored studies of workers that the company had exposed to dioxin, and these studies showed no increased cancer deaths among exposed workers. However, the Monsanto studies have been criticized by a report from the National Research Council, which says Monsanto's studies were "plagued with errors in classification of exposed and unexposed groups, according to some reports, and hence have been biased toward a finding of no effect." A 1990 analysis of Monsanto workers, conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, reported a statistically-significant increase in soft tissue sarcomas. As part of its multi-year scientific reassessment of dioxin, EPA recently published a draft review of all scientific data linking dioxin to cancer and other health effects in humans. The EPA's draft document concludes that four separate studies of workers exposed to dioxin have revealed an "overall increased mortality from all malignancies combined." EPA speculates that dioxin's ability to mimic hormones gives dioxin the capacity to cause cancer in many different organs and bodily systems in humans. There seems to be little room left for doubt: As the EPA's "scientific reassessment team" told then-chief of EPA, William Reilly, January 27, 1992: "Dioxin does cause cancer in humans." suing Monsanto on behalf of plaintiffs who say they were harmed when a Norfolk and Western railroad tank car derailed, spilling 19,000 gallons of a Monsanto chemical called "ocp-crude" into the community of Sturgeon, Missouri the night of January 10, 1979. Denial of responsibility means, basically, stonewalling pollution, even on your own property. For example, Monsanto's plant in Sauget, Illinois has over a dozen chemical dumps on it, according to the WALL STREET JOURNAL, several of them containing substantial quantities of cancer-causing PCBs, at concentrations as high as 74,000 parts per million (ppm), or 7.4 percent. For years, Monsanto's Sauget plant was the nation's largest single manufacturer of PCBs. Monsanto officials insist that the PCBs on their property do not necessarily belong to them. Anyone could have dumped PCBs there, they say. All told, there are more than one million tons of chemical wastes on Monsanto's property--chlorinated pesticides, PCBs and other chemicals that Monsanto manufactured on the site for decades. Monsanto insists the wastes did not necessarily come from their plant, located half a mile north of the dumps. It is company policy to destroy waste records after 4 years. Meanwhile the state of Illinois has spent 12 years and $1.3 million trying to get the Monsanto site listed on the federal Superfund. An estimated 13 tons of chemical wastes leach off the Monsanto site into the Mississippi River each year. Monsanto products include: NutraSweet, Equal, BGH (aka rBGH, rBST, Posilac), Simplese (an artificial butter fat), Simple Pleasures Frozen Dairy Desserts, Salad Dressing and Maonnaise; the artificial fibers Astroturf and Wear Dated Carpets; the home insulation foam sheeting called Fome-Cor; the garden herbicides Roundup and Dimension; agricultural chemicals: Lasso, Harness Plus, Far Go, Avauer, Machete, Bronco, Bullet, Cropstar GB, Freedom, Landmaster BW, Micro-Tech Partner, Ram Rod, Accord, Buckle, Fallow Master, Lariat, Rodeo; the feed supplement and preservative Alimet; the Flavr Savr tomato. Campaigns and resistance: Boycotts: Family farm Defenders, P.O. Box 581, Hillsboro, Wisconsin, 54634, for BGH Pure Dairy Commission, RR 2, Box 191, New Auburn WI 54757. for BGH Betty Martini, 5940 Brookgreen Road, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia 30328, for NutraSweet Outside links and further information >From RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH WEEKLY Monsanto and it's public image - #504 Aspartame and brain cancer - #520 Dioxins and cancer. How Monsanto hid he truth - #494, #400, #353, #171 Genetic engineering, particularly rBGH - #521, #483, #454, #384, #383, #382, #381 PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls) - #329, #327, #295, #144 Monsantos toxic dumps - #358, #357 Monsanto pushes pesticides http://www.essential.org/monitor/hyper/mm0393.html#pushing Dave Hartley http://www.Asheville-Computer.com/dave GUARDIAN (London) Friday January 28, 2000 Julia Finch Monsanto's name radically modified The Monsanto company name, which has become synonymous with the genetically modified food business, is to be ditched, the company revealed last night. The beleaguered American biotech company is merging with the US-Swiss drugs group Pharmacia & Upjohn and the $50bn corporation will in future be known as Pharmacia. "We have chosen a name with power and global relevance," said Robert Shapiro, chairman of Monsanto, who will lead the new company. "This name and logo will create a strong new identity for our 60,000 employees and will build value with our existing customers worldwide." Mr Shapiro, who championed GM food, was once regarded as a visionary who would mix nutrition, biotechnology, crop protection and medicine in one commercial venture. But the Monsanto name became tainted last year as the consumer backlash against GM food spread from Europe to the US. In addition to food safety and environmental fears there were concerns that farmers in developing countries would never be able to afford the new Monsanto seeds. Last month a shareholder campaign in the US unveiled a plan to target 24 companies, including Monsanto, demanding a moratorium on the use of GM food until independent testing had been completed. The campaign is being coordinated by 275 religious and other groups which claim to control $100bn of shares in US companies. Monsanto, which had been a high-flying pharmaceutical stock and darling of Wall Street, fell swiftly from grace when its crop technology business, which little over a year ago was regarded as a world beater, turned into an albatross. Shareholders watched as their investments lost a third of their value. The newly merged Pharmacia Corporation will use the names Searle, Pharmacia and Upjohn for its three sales divisions. Only an autonomous agricultural subsidiary will continue to use the Monsanto name. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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