Monsanto, the patented seed and pesticide agriculture behemoth, was under scrutiny due to their failed offer to buy Syngenta, the Swiss agricultural chemicals and seed company. Now Monsanto itself is the target of a buyout. German drug corporation Bayer has offered Monsanto stock holders a $122 per share. Big business history reads a little like the spiritual hymn “Them Dry Bones.” From the toe bone all the way up to the head bone, everything is connected. Take Monsanto for instance.
The chemical company Monsanto was founded in 1901. One of its first products was calorie-free sweetener made from coal tar — saccharin. Through its steady acquisitions of other companies, Monsanto has also manufactured chemicals like PCBs, DDT, Agent Orange, and salicylic acid–the primary ingredient in Bayer aspirin. They ran the Dayton Project doing research for the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb. Monsanto also patented a boiler pipe cleaning compound called glyphosate to be used as a nonselective herbicide named Roundup, netting billions in profits over the patent’s 20-year lifespan. By the time that patent ran out, Monsanto was well on its way to patented genes that made crops like corn, soybeans, cotton, and canola impervious to Roundup. See how “Them Bones” are connected?
For as long as agriculture has relied on chemical pesticides and fertilizers, we’ve been equally dependent on chemical companies to supply those needs. But competition among a number of chemical companies traditionally has been reduced or eliminated over the years as one consolidated company hooks up with another.