1901 to WWII

In 1901, Monsanto was founded in St. Louis, Missouri, as a chemical company.^[22] The founder was John Francis Queeny, who at age 42 was a 30‑year veteran of the nascent pharmaceutical industry.^[23] He funded the firm with his own money and capital from a soft drink distributor. He used for the company name, the maiden name of his wife, Olga Méndez Monsanto, who was a scioness of the Monsanto family.^[24]

The company's first products were commodity food additives, such as the artificial sweetener saccharin, caffeine and vanillin.^{[25]: 6 [26][27][28][29]}

Monsanto expanded to Europe in 1919 in a partnership with Graesser's Chemical Works at Cefn Mawr, Wales. The venture produced vanillin, aspirin and its raw ingredient salicylic acid, and later rubber processing chemicals.

In the 1920s, Monsanto expanded into basic industrial chemicals such as sulfuric acid and PCBs. Queeny's son Edgar Monsanto Queeny took over the company in 1928.

In 1926 the company founded and incorporated a town called Monsanto in Illinois (now known as Sauget). It was formed to provide minimal regulation and low taxes for Monsanto plants at a time when local jurisdictions had most of the responsibility for environmental rules. It was renamed in honor of Leo Sauget, its first village president.^[30]

In 1935, Monsanto bought the Swann Chemical Company in Anniston, Alabama, and thereby entered the business of producing PCBs.^[31][32][33]

In 1936, Monsanto acquired Thomas & Hochwalt Laboratories in Dayton, Ohio, to acquire the expertise of Charles Allen Thomas and Carroll A. Hochwalt. The acquisition became Monsanto's Central Research Department.^{[34]: 340–341} Thomas spent the rest of his career at Monsanto, serving as President (1951–1960) and Board Chair (1960–1965). He retired in 1970.^[35] In 1943, Thomas was called to a meeting in Washington, D.C., with Leslie Groves, commander of the Manhattan Project, and James Conant, president of Harvard University and chairman of the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC).^[36] They urged Thomas to become co-director of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos with Robert Oppenheimer, but Thomas was reluctant to leave Dayton and Monsanto.^[36] He joined the NDRC, and Monsanto's Central Research Department began to conduct related research.^[37]: vii To that end, Monsanto operated the Dayton Project, and later Mound Laboratories, and assisted in the development of the first nuclear weapons.^[36]

Post-WWII

In 1946, Monsanto developed and marketed "All" laundry detergent, which it sold to Lever Brothers in 1957.^[38] In 1947, its styrene factory was destroyed in the Texas City Disaster.^[39] In 1949, Monsanto acquired American Viscose Corporation from Courtaulds. In 1954, Monsanto partnered with German chemical giant Bayer to form Mobay and market polyurethanes in the United States.^[40]

Monsanto began manufacturing DDT in 1944, along with some 15 other companies. This insecticide was used to kill malaria-transmitting mosquitoes, but it was banned in the United States in 1972 due to its harmful environmental impacts.

In 1977, Monsanto stopped producing PCBs; Congress banned PCB production two years later.^[41][42]

1960s and 1970s

In the mid‑1960s, William Standish Knowles and his team invented a way to selectively synthesize enantiomers via asymmetric hydrogenation. This was the first method for the catalytic production of pure chiral compounds.^[43] Knowles' team designed the "first industrial process to chirally synthesize an important compound"—L‑dopa, which is used to treat Parkinson's disease.^[44] In 2001, Knowles and Ryōji Noyori won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In the mid-1960s, chemists at Monsanto developed the Monsanto process for making acetic acid, which until 2000 was the most widely used production method. In 1964, Monsanto chemists invented AstroTurf (initially ChemGrass).^[45]

In the 1960s and 1970s, Monsanto was a producer of Agent Orange for United States Armed Forces operations in Vietnam, and settled out of court in a lawsuit brought by veterans in 1984.^[46]: 6 In 1968, it became the first company to start mass production of (visible) light-emitting diodes (LEDs), using gallium arsenide phosphide. From 1968 to 1970, sales doubled every few months. Their products (discrete LEDs and seven-segment numeric displays) became industry standards. The primary markets then were electronic calculators, digital watches and digital clocks.^[47] Monsanto became a pioneer of optoelectronics in the 1970s.

Between 1968 and 1974, the company sponsored the PGA Tour event in Pensacola, Florida, which was renamed the Monsanto Open.

In 1974, Harvard University and Monsanto signed a 10-year research grant to support the cancer research of Judah Folkman, which became the largest such arrangement ever made; medical inventions arising from that research were the first for which Harvard allowed its faculty to submit patent application.^[48][49]

1980 to 1989: Becoming an agribiotech

Monsanto scientists were among the first to genetically modify a plant cell, publishing their results in 1983.^[3] Five years later the company conducted the first field tests of genetically modified crops. Increasing involvement in agricultural biotechnology dates from the installment of Richard Mahoney as Monsanto's CEO in 1983.^[22] This involvement increased under the leadership of Robert Shapiro, appointed CEO in 1995, leading ultimately to the disposition of product lines unrelated to agriculture.^[22]

In 1985, Monsanto acquired G.D. Searle & Company, a life sciences company that focused on pharmaceuticals, agriculture and animal health. In 1993, its Searle division filed a patent application for Celebrex,^[50][51] which in 1998 became the first selective COX‑2 inhibitor to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).^[52] Celebrex became a blockbuster drug and was often mentioned as a key reason for Pfizer's acquisition of Monsanto's pharmaceutical business in 2002.^[53]

1990 to 1999: Moving into the seed market & industry consolidation

In 1994, Monsanto introduced a recombinant version of bovine somatotropin, brand-named Posilac.^[54] Monsanto later sold this business to Eli Lilly and Company.

In 1996, Monsanto purchased Agracetus, the biotechnology company that had generated the first transgenic cotton, soybeans, peanuts and other crops, and from which Monsanto had been licensing technology since 1991.^[55]

In 1997, Monsanto divested Solutia, a company created to carry off the responsibility for Monsanto's PCB business and associated liabilities, along with some related organic chemical production.

Monsanto first entered the maize seed business when it purchased 40% of Dekalb in 1996; it purchased the remainder of the corporation in 1998.^[56] In 1997, the company first published an annual report citing Monsanto's Law, a biotechnological take on Moore's Law, indicating its future directions and exponential growth in the use of biotechnology. In the same year, Californian GMO company Calgene was acquired.^[57][58] In 1998, Monsanto purchased Cargill's international seed business, which gave it access to sales and distribution facilities in 51 countries.^[56] In 2005, it finalized the purchase of Seminis Inc, a leading global vegetable and fruit seed company, for $1.4 billion.^[59] This made it the world's largest conventional seed company.

In 1999, Monsanto sold off NutraSweet Co.^[22] In December of the same year, Monsanto agreed to merge with Pharmacia & Upjohn, in a deal valuing the transaction at $27 billion.^[60][22] The agricultural division became a wholly owned subsidiary of the "new" Pharmacia; Monsanto's medical research division, which included products such as Celebrex.^[61]

"Pre-Pharmacia" Monsanto overview

2000 to 2009: Birth of the "new" Monsanto

In 2000, Pharmacia spun off its agro-biotech subsidiary into a new company,^[22] the "new Monsanto",^[62] focused on four key agricultural crops—soybeans, maize, wheat and cotton.^[63] Monsanto agreed to indemnify Pharmacia against potential liabilities from judgments against Solutia. As a result, the new Monsanto continued to be a party to numerous lawsuits over the prior Monsanto. Pharmacia was bought by Pfizer in 2003.^[64][65]

In 2005, Monsanto acquired Emergent Genetics and its Stoneville and NexGen cotton brands. Emergent was the third-largest U.S. cotton seed company, with about 12% of the U.S. market. Monsanto's goal was to obtain "a strategic cotton germplasm and traits platform".^[66]

Also in 2005, Monsanto purchased Seminis, the California-based world leader in vegetable seed production, for $1.4 billion.^[67] Seminis developed new vegetable varieties using advanced cross-pollination methods. Monsanto indicated that Seminis would continue with non-GM development, while not ruling out GM in the longer term.^[68]

In June 2007, Monsanto purchased Delta and Pine Land Company, a major cotton seed breeder, for $1.5 billion.^[69] As a condition for approval from the Department of Justice, Monsanto was obligated to divest its Stoneville cotton business, which it sold to Bayer, and to divest its NexGen cotton business, which it sold to Americot.^[70] Monsanto also exited the pig-breeding business by selling Monsanto Choice Genetics to Newsham Genetics LC in November, divesting itself of "any and all swine-related patents, patent applications, and all other intellectual property".^[71]: 108 In 2007, Monsanto and BASF announced a long-term agreement to cooperate in the research, development, and marketing of new plant biotechnology products.^[72]

In 2008, Monsanto purchased Dutch seed company De Ruiter Seeds for €546 million,^[73] and sold its POSILAC bovine somatotropin brand and related business to Elanco Animal Health, a division of Eli Lilly & Co, in August for $300 million plus "additional contingent consideration".^[74]

2010 to 2017: Further growth, Syngenta

In 2012, Monsanto purchased for $210 million Precision Planting Inc., a company that produced computer hardware and software designed to enable farmers to increase yield and productivity through more precise planting.^[75]

Monsanto purchased San Francisco-based Climate Corp for $930 million in 2013.^[76] Climate Corp makes local weather forecasts for farmers based on data modelling and historical data; if the forecasts were wrong, the farmer was compensated.^[77]

In May 2013, a worldwide protest against Monsanto corporation, called March Against Monsanto, was held in over 400 cities.^[78][79] A second protest took place in May 2014.

Monsanto tried to acquire Swiss agro-biotechnology rival Syngenta for US$46.5 billion in 2015, but failed.^[80] In that year Monsanto was the world's biggest supplier of seeds, controlling 26% of the global seed market (Du Pont was second with 21%).^[81] Monsanto was the only manufacturer of white phosphorus for military use in the US.^[82]

"Post-Pharmacia" Monsanto overview

Glyphosate herbicides

Following its 1970 introduction, Monsanto's last commercially relevant United States patent on the herbicide glyphosate (brand name RoundUp) expired in 2000. Glyphosate has since been marketed by many agrochemical companies, in various solution strengths and with various adjuvants, under dozens of tradenames.^{[113][114][115][116]} As of 2009, glyphosate represented about 10% of Monsanto's revenue.^[117] Roundup-related products (which include genetically modified seeds) represented about half of Monsanto's gross margin.^[118]

Crop seed

As of 2015, Monsanto's line of seed products included corn, cotton, soy and vegetable seeds.

Row crops

Many of Monsanto's agricultural seed products are genetically modified, such as for resistance to herbicides, including glyphosate and dicamba. Monsanto calls glyphosate-tolerant seeds Roundup Ready. Monsanto's introduction of this system (planting a glyphosate-resistant seed and then applying glyphosate once plants emerged) allowed farmers to increase yield by planting rows closer together.^[119] Without it, farmers had to plant rows far enough apart to allow the control of post-emergent weeds with mechanical tillage.^[119] Farmers widely adopted the technology—for example over 80% of maize (Mon 832), soybean (MON-Ø4Ø32-6), cotton, sugar beet and canola planted in the United States are glyphosate-tolerant. Monsanto developed a Roundup Ready genetically modified wheat (MON 71800) but ended development in 2004 due to concerns from wheat exporters about the rejection of genetically modified (GM) wheat by foreign markets.^[120]

Two patents were critical to Monsanto's GM soybean business; one expired in 2011 and the other in 2014.^[121] The second expiration meant that glyphosate resistant soybeans became "generic".^{[119][122][123][124][125]} The first harvest of generic glyphosate-tolerant soybeans came in 2015.^[126] Monsanto broadly licensed the patent to other seed companies that include glyphosate resistance trait in their seed products.^[127] About 150 companies have licensed the technology,^[128] including competitors Syngenta^[129] and DuPont Pioneer.^[130]

Monsanto invented and sells genetically modified seeds that make a crystalline insecticidal protein from Bacillus thuringiensis, known as Bt. In 1995 Monsanto's potato plants producing Bt toxin were approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, following approval by the FDA, making it the first pesticide-producing crop to be approved in the United States.^[131] Monsanto subsequently developed Bt maize (MON 802, MON 809, MON 863, MON 810), Bt soybean^[132] and Bt cotton.

Monsanto produces seed that has multiple genetic modifications, also known as "stacked traits"—for instance, cotton that make one or more Bt proteins and is resistant to glyphosate. One of these, created in collaboration with Dow Chemical Company, is called SmartStax. In 2011 Monsanto launched the Genuity brand for its stacked-trait products.^[133]

As of 2012, the agricultural seed lineup included Roundup Ready alfalfa, canola and sugarbeet; Bt and/or Roundup Ready cotton; sorghum hybrids; soybeans with various oil profiles, most with the Roundup Ready trait; and a wide range of wheat products, many of which incorporate the nontransgenic "clearfield" imazamox-tolerant^[134] trait from BASF.^[135]

In 2013 Monsanto launched the first transgenic drought tolerance trait in a line of corn hybrids branded DroughtGard.^[136] The MON 87460 trait is provided by the insertion of the cspB gene from the soil microbe Bacillus subtilis; it was approved by the USDA in 2011^[137] and by China in 2013.^[138]

The "Xtend Crop System" includes seed genetically modified to be resistant to both glyphosate and dicamba, and a herbicide product including those two active ingredients.^[139] In December 2014, the system was approved for use in the US. In February 2016, China approved the Roundup Ready 2 Xtend system.^[140] The lack of European Union approval led many American traders to reject the use of Xtend soybeans over concerns that the new seeds would become mixed with EU-approved seeds, leading Europe to reject American soybean exports.^[141]

India-specific issues

In 2009, Monsanto scientists discovered insects that had developed resistance to the Bt Cotton planted in Gujarat. Monsanto communicated this to the Indian government and its customers, stating that "Resistance is natural and expected, so measures to delay resistance are important. Among the factors that may have contributed to pink bollworm resistance to the Cry1Ac protein in Bollgard I in Gujarat are limited refuge planting and early use of unapproved Bt cotton seed, planted prior to GEAC approval of Bollgard I cotton, which may have had lower protein expression levels."^[142] The company advised farmers to switch to its second generation of Bt cotton – Bolgard II – which had two resistance genes instead of one,^[143] the widely recognised best practice to forestall, prevent, and cope with any kind of pesticide resistance.^{[144][145][146][147][148][149][150]} However, this advice was criticized: "an internal analysis of the statement of the Ministry of Environment and Forests says it 'appears that this could be a business strategy to phase out single gene events [that is, the first-generation Bollgard I product] and promote double genes [the second generation Bollgard II] which would fetch higher price.'"^[151]

Monsanto's GM cotton seed was the subject of NGO agitation because of its higher cost. Indian farmers crossed GM varieties with local varieties, using plant breeding, violating their agreements with Monsanto.^[152] In 2009, high prices of Bt Cotton were blamed for forcing farmers of Jhabua district into debt when the crops died due to lack of rain.^[153]

Vegetables

In 2012 Monsanto was the world's largest supplier of non-GE vegetable seeds by value, with sales of $800M. 95% of the research and development for vegetable seed is in conventional breeding. The company concentrates on improving flavor.^[67] According to their website they sell "4,000 distinct seed varieties representing more than 20 species".^[154] Broccoli, with the brand name Beneforté, with increased amounts of glucoraphanin was introduced in 2010 following development by its Seminis subsidiary.^[155]

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

Until it ended production in 1977, Monsanto was the source of 99% of the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) used by U.S. industry.^[42] They were sold under brand names including Aroclor and Santotherm; the name Santotherm is still used for non-chlorinated products.^[156][157] PCBs are a persistent organic pollutant, and cause cancer in both animals and humans, among other health effects.^[158] PCBs were initially welcomed due to the electrical industry's need for durable, safer (than flammable mineral oil) cooling and insulating fluid for industrial transformers and capacitors. PCBs were also commonly used as stabilizing additives in the manufacture of flexible PVC coatings for electrical wiring and in electronic components to enhance PVC heat and fire resistance.^[159] As transformer leaks occurred and toxicity problems arose near factories, their durability and toxicity became recognized as serious problems. PCB production was banned by the U.S. Congress in 1979 and by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2001.^{[42][160][161]}

Agent Orange

Monsanto, Dow Chemical, and eight other chemical companies made Agent Orange for the U.S. Department of Defense.^[46]: 6 It was given its name from the color of the orange-striped barrels in which it was shipped, and was by far the most widely used of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides".^[162]

Bovine somatotropin

Monsanto developed and sold recombinant bovine somatotropin (also known as rBST and rBGH), a synthetic hormone that increases milk production by 11–16% when injected into cows.^[163][164] In October 2008, Monsanto sold this business to Eli Lilly for $300 million plus additional considerations.^[165]

The use of rBST remains controversial with respect to its effects on cows and their milk.^[166]

In some markets, milk from cows that are not treated with rBST is sold with labels indicating that it is rBST-free: this milk has proved popular with consumers.^[167] In reaction to this, in early 2008 a pro-rBST advocacy group called "American Farmers for the Advancement and Conservation of Technology" (AFACT),^[168] made up of dairies and originally affiliated with Monsanto, formed and began lobbying to ban such labels. AFACT stated that "absence" labels can be misleading and imply that milk from cows treated with rBST is inferior.^[167]

"Terminator" seeds

Genetic use restriction technology, colloquially known as "terminator technology", produces plants with sterile seeds. This trait would prevent the spread of those seeds into the wild. It also would prevent farmers from planting seeds they harvest, requiring them to purchase seed for every planting, allowing the company to enforce its licensing terms via technology. Farmers have been buying hybrid seeds for generations, instead of replanting their harvest, because second-generation hybrid seeds are inferior. Nevertheless, most seed companies contract only with farmers who agree not to plant harvested seeds.

Terminator technology has been developed by governmental labs, university researchers and companies.^{[169][170][171]} The technology has not been used commercially.^[172][173] Rumors that Monsanto and other companies intended to introduce terminator technology caused protests, for example in India.^[174][175]

In 1999, Monsanto pledged not to commercialize terminator technology.^[172][176] The Delta & Pine Land Company of Mississippi intended to commercialize the technology,^[171] but D&PL was acquired by Monsanto in 2007.^[177]

Monsanto "Terminator seeds" were never commercialized nor used in any farmer's field anywhere in the world. The patent expired in 2015.^[178]

GM wheat

Monsanto developed several strains of genetically modified wheat, including glyphosate-resistant strains, in the 1990s. Field tests were done in the United States between 1998 and 2005.^[179] As of 2017, no genetically modified wheat had been released for commercial use.^[180]

PCBs

In the late 1960s, the Monsanto plant in Sauget, Illinois, was the nation's largest producer of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) compounds, which remained in the water along Dead Creek there. An EPA official referred to Sauget as "one of the most polluted communities in the region" and "a soup of different chemicals".^[222]

In Anniston, Alabama, plaintiffs in a 2002 lawsuit provided documentation showing that the local Monsanto factory knowingly discharged both mercury and PCB-laden waste into local creeks for over 40 years.^[223] In 1969 Monsanto dumped 45 tons of PCBs into Snow Creek, a feeder for Choccolocco Creek, which supplies much of the area's drinking water, and buried millions of pounds of PCB in open-pit landfills located on hillsides above the plant and surrounding neighborhoods.^[224] In August 2003, Solutia and Monsanto agreed to pay plaintiffs $700 million to settle claims by over 20,000 Anniston residents.^[225]

In June 2020, Bayer proposed paying $650 million to settle local PCB lawsuits, and $170 million to the attorneys-general of New Mexico, Washington and the District of Columbia.^[16] Monsanto was acknowledged at the time of the settlement to have ceased making PCBs in 1977, though State Impact of Pennsylvania reported that this did not stop PCBs from contaminating people many years later.^[16] State Impact of Pennsylvania stated "In 1979, the EPA banned the use of PCBs, but they still exist in some products produced before 1979. They persist in the environment because they bind to sediments and soils. High exposure to PCBs can cause birth defects, developmental delays, and liver changes." On November 25, 2020, however U.S. District Judge Fernando M. Olguin rejected the proposed $650 million settlement from Bayer and allowed Monsanto-related lawsuits involving PCB to proceed.^[226]

Polluted sites

As of November 2013, Monsanto was associated with nine "active" Superfund sites and 32 "archived" sites in the US, in the EPA's Superfund database.^[227] Monsanto was sued and settled multiple times for damaging the health of its employees or residents near its Superfund sites through pollution and poisoning.^[228][229]

GM wheat

In 2013 a Monsanto-developed transgenic cultivar of glyphosate-resistant wheat was discovered on a farm in Oregon, growing as a weed or "volunteer plant". The final Oregon field test had occurred in 2001. As of May 2013, the GMO seed source was unknown. Volunteer wheat from a former test field two miles away was tested and was not found to be glyphosate-tolerant. Monsanto faced penalties up to $1 million over potential violations of the Plant Protection Act. The discovery threatened world-leading US wheat exports, which totaled $8.1 billion in 2012.^[230][231] This wheat variety was rarely exported to Europe and was more likely destined for Asia. Monsanto said it had destroyed all the material it held after completing trials in 2004 and it was "mystified" by its appearance.^[232] On June 14, 2013, the USDA announced: "As of today, USDA has neither found nor been informed of anything that would indicate that this incident amounts to more than a single isolated incident in a single field on a single farm. All information collected so far shows no indication of the presence of GE wheat in commerce."^[233] As of August 30, 2013, while the source of the GM wheat remained unknown, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan had all resumed placing orders.^[234]

Cancer risks of Roundup

Monsanto has faced controversy in the United States over claims that its herbicide products might be carcinogens. There is limited evidence that human cancer risk might increase as a result of occupational exposure to large amounts of glyphosate, as in agricultural work, but no good evidence of such a risk from home use, such as in domestic gardening.^[235] The consensus among national pesticide regulatory agencies and scientific organizations is that labeled uses of glyphosate have demonstrated no evidence of human carcinogenicity.^[236] Organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization, European Commission, Canadian Pest Management Regulatory Agency, and the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment^[237] have concluded that there is no evidence that glyphosate poses a carcinogenic or genotoxic risk to humans. However, one international scientific organization, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), affiliated with the WHO, has made claims of carcinogenicity in research reviews; in 2015 the IARC declared glyphosate "probably carcinogenic".^[238]

As of October 30, 2019, there were 42,700 plaintiffs who said that glyphosate herbicides caused their cancer after the IARC report in 2015 linking glyphosate to cancer in humans.^{[239][240][241][242]} Monsanto denies that Roundup is carcinogenic.^[243][244]

In March 2017, 40 plaintiffs filed a lawsuit at the Alameda County Superior Court, a branch of the California Superior Court, asking for damages caused by the company's glyphosate-based weed-killers, including Roundup, and demanding a jury trial.^[245] On August 10, 2018, Monsanto lost the first decided case. Dewayne Johnson, who has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, was initially awarded $289 million in damages after a jury in San Francisco said that Monsanto had failed to adequately warn consumers of cancer risks posed by the herbicide. Pending appeal, the award was later reduced to $78.5 million.^[246][247] In November 2018, Monsanto appealed the judgement, asking an appellate court to consider a motion for a new trial.^[247] A verdict on the appeal was delivered in June 2020 upholding the verdict but further reducing the award to $21.5 million.^[248]

On March 27, 2019, Monsanto was found liable in a federal court for Edwin Hardeman's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and ordered to pay $80 million in damages. A spokesperson for Bayer, by this time the parent company of Monsanto, said the company would appeal the verdict.^[249]

On May 13, 2019, a jury in California ordered Bayer to pay $2 billion in damages after finding that the company had failed to adequately inform consumers of the possible carcinogenicity of Roundup.^[250] On July 26, 2019, an Alameda County judge cut the settlement to $86.7 million, stating that the judgement by the jury exceeded legal precedent.^[251]

In June 2020, Monsanto acquisitor Bayer agreed to settle over a hundred thousand Roundup cancer lawsuits, agreeing to pay $8.8 to $9.6 billion to settle those claims, and $1.5 billion for any future claims. The settlement does not include three cases that have already gone to jury trials and are being appealed.^[16]

Dicamba lawsuits

Following a lawsuit by a peach farmer alleging that Dicamba used as a weed killer drifted in the wind from adjacent crops to destroy his peach orchards, a Missouri trial jury found in February 2020 that Monsanto and codefendant BASF were negligent in design of Dicamba and failed to warn farmers about the product, awarding $15 million for losses and $250 million in punitive damages.^[252] On February 14, 2020, the jury involved in a Missouri lawsuit involving tree damage caused by dicamba drift ruled against Bayer and its co-defendant BASF and found in favor of Bader Farms owner Bill Bader.^[253] In June 2020, Bayer agreed to a settlement of up to $400 million for all 2015–2020 crop year dicamba claims, not including the $250 million judgement which was issued to Bader.^[16] On November 25, 2020, U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr. reduced the punitive damage amount in the Bader Farms case to $60 million.^[254]

Revolving door

In the US regulatory environment, many individuals move back and forth between positions in the public and private sectors, including at Monsanto. Critics argued that the connections between the company and the government allowed Monsanto to obtain favorable regulations at the expense of consumer safety.^{[281][282][283]} Supporters of the practice point to the benefits of competent and experienced individuals in both sectors and to the importance of appropriately managing potential conflicts of interest.^{[284][285]: 16–23} The list of such people includes:

• Linda J. Fisher—EPA assistant administrator, then Monsanto VP from 1995 to 2000. then EPA deputy administrator.^[286]
• Michael A. Friedman, MD—FDA deputy commissioner.^[287]
• Earle H. Harbison Jr., Central Intelligence Agency Deputy Director, then President, Chief Operating Officer, and Director, from 1986 to 1993.^[288]
• Robert Holifield—chief of staff of Senate Agriculture Committee, then partner in Lincoln Policy Group.^[289]
• Mickey Kantor—US trade representative, then Monsanto board member.^[286]
• Blanche Lincoln—US Senator and chair of Agriculture Committee, then founder of lobbying firm Lincoln Policy Group
• William D. Ruckelshaus—EPA Administrator, then acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and then Deputy Attorney General of the United States, then EPA administrator, then Monsanto Board member.^[290]
• Donald Rumsfeld—Secretary of Defense and previous secretary of Searle, a Monsanto subsidiary, for eight years^[291]
• Michael R. Taylor—assistant to the FDA commissioner, then attorney for King & Spalding,^[292][293] then FDA deputy commissioner for policy on food safety between 1991 and 1994.^[286] He was cleared of conflict of interest accusations. Then he became Monsanto's VP for Public Policy,^{[267][268][269]} becoming Senior Advisor to the FDA Commissioner for the Obama administration.^[270]
• Clarence Thomas—Supreme Court Justice who worked as an attorney for Monsanto in the 1970s, then wrote the majority opinion in J. E. M. Ag Supply, Inc. v. Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.^[294] finding that "newly developed plant breeds are patentable under the general utility patent laws of the United States."^{[286][291][294][295]}
• Ann Veneman—Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, and member of the board of directors of Calgene^[291]