Please enter the following into the minutes:
- At prior public hearings this matter was brought that there is currently NO zoning category for "Agriscience" in Wildwood, and that is because there
should not be. With over 7,400 acres or parks and preserves lying within its borders, the City of Wildwood, has more mostly wooded public lands that
would be at risk, than any other St. Louis County municipality. Increasing the risk potential is also the fact that the Farh Greenhouse sits in flood
plain, with Wild Horse Creek nearby, which empties into the Missouri River. Extra caution will need to be used in a research facility where the genetically
engineered seeds, plants and even pesticides may not be FDA approved. The Solis employees that will run the facility have a history of working for both
Monsanto and BASF. These companies have a decades long history of not only injuring people and the environment, they also have a history of not knowing and
not fully disclosing risks including
- In a settlement reached in 1984, manufacturers, including Monsanto paid $180 million into a fund to compensate Viet Nam
veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange dioxin.
- A 2005 US Dept of Justice agreement wherein admitted to violating Foreign Corrupt Practices Act when a Monsanto executive bribed an Indonesian consulting
firm assessing its GMO products.
- A 2014 $2.4 Million settlement with Oregon Farmers whose fields were found to have been contaminated with a non-FDA approved GMO wheat manufactured and field tested by Monsanto
(but discontinued) on another property a decade prior.
- In addition, Monsanto agreed to pay $700 Million to the State of Oregon in a settlement regarding PCB contamination.
- In 2020 a Missouri Farmer received a $265 Million verdict after his peach farm was destroyed by the herbicide Dicamba, which was used by neighboring farmer. The new
Dicamba formula was developed after plants had become glyphosate resistant and it developed genetically engineered cotton and soybean seeds that could tolerate Dicamba and
told farmers the product would not drift to non-targeted areas. During the trial it was discovered via interoffice communication, that not only did Monsanto and BASF know about
the potential risks, they planned how they would avoid liability.
- In 2021 Grape Growers would file lawsuits against Monsanto and BASF alleging damages from Dicamba.
- 9/20/2023 – City of Chicago filed suit against Monsanto for PCB contamination (linked to liver, thyroid, immune and reproductive system problems and cancer) stating
"records show that Monsanto intentionally misled the public despite knowing the dangers PCBs posed to the environment."
- As of November 2023, Monsanto has paid out $11 Billion in Roundup lawsuits.
As Solis is a newer entity, it doesn’t have the egregious history of environmental damage, personal injury and death that Monsanto, Bayer and BASF have. But it does have the at least
five of the people who held high level positions at those companies during that history, who will now be making decisions at Solis. As Solis is a newer entity, it also doesn’t have
hundreds of billions of dollars that Monsanto and BASF have to pay out in settlements to compensate for damage done to the environment and human life. Founded in 1901, Monsanto now
controls most of the World’s GMO market, and has a long history of being on the defense end of lawsuits alleging harm to humans and the environment. Even with Monsanto’s first product
there were concerns. In 1901 Monsanto first produced saccharin, but by 1907 the USDA started to investigate whether the product violated the 1906 Pure Food Act. By 1909 the USDA
issued a report that saccharin was safe in small does and probably safe in larger doses. In 1911 the same panel issued a rule that foods containing saccharin are considered altered and
were banned except for patients who must avoid sugar, but because of shortages in WWI of sugar the restriction was suspended and by the 1950’s it was in many low-calorie products.
When it was found to increase the risk of bladder cancer in rats in 1972 the FDA removed saccharin from its list of foods "generally recognized as safe" requiring a warning label on
all foods containing it. Although by 1981 the National Toxicology program listed saccharine as "reasonable anticipated to be a human carcinogen", however in 2000 President Clinton signed a
law removing warning labels for food and drink. And that was just the controversy over their first product.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-dec-27-la-he-nutrition-lab-saccharin-timeline201001227-story.html
In 1984 Monsanto and other manufacturers of Agent Orange, agreed to pay $180 million in a trust fund to help compensate Viet Nam War veterans who were injured (including cancer, miscarriages
or birth defects) or died as a result of their product.
https://www.toxicdocs.org/blog/confidential-history-agent-orange-and-monsanto/
In 2005 in a US Dept. of Justice Deferred Prosecution Agreement, Monsanto admitted to violating Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by falsifying information placed in their documentation, and
allegations a Monsanto Senior Manager allegedly bribing an Indonesian consulting firm with regard to assessing its GMO products. This resulted in Monsanto paying a $1.5 million fine.
With regard to false advertising, Asgrow (a Monsanto subsidiary) was fined $15,000 in France for knowing unauthorized GMO’s in bags of seeds. In 2012 a Brazilian Court ordered Monsanto to pay
$250,000 for a false advertising suit.
https://www.dominalaw.com/legal-blog-2016/march/history-of-monsanto-legal-cases/
In 2013 the USDA announced that a small number of volunteer wheat plants tested positive for genetically engineered (GE) glyphosate-resistant wheat, causing Japan (the largest importer of US wheat),
Korea and Taiwan to postpone imports, resulting in financial losses to Oregon farmers.
https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2013/06/14/statement-detection-genetically-engineered-wheat-oregon
The wheat was discovered to be an experimental genetically modified wheat that was never approved by the FDA. Monsanto said they had field tested the strain of wheat between 1994 and
2004 but said that it "terminated the project due to fears that it would be banned abroad." They also alleged that the seeds were either burned, buried or shipped back to Monsanto
under strict protocols. This raised concerns over the ecological risks of GM seeds to non-modified plants.
https://www.climate.columbia.edu/2013/07/30/the-intensifying-debate-over-genetically-modified-foods/
In 2014 Monsanto paid $2.4 Million to settle with the Oregon Farmers. Several Counties in Oregon later banned GMO seeds and plants from being planted.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/monsanto-to-pay-pacific-northwest-wheat-farmers-over-tainted-fields-n24371
In 2022, the State of Oregon reached a $700 million settlement against Monsanto for decades of polluting the state with PCBs, which according to the Oregon AG, "…threatened the
health of the people that use and enjoy our state’s natural resources – our air, our water, our ground, our fish…"
https://www.opb.org/article/2022/12/15/oregon-settlement-monsanto-pcb-contaimination-attorney-general-ellen-rosenblum/
In February of 2020 a Missouri Farmer won a $265 Million verdict against Monsanto and BASF claiming that their pesticide (Dicamba) used at a nearby farm wiped out his peach farm, killing 30,000
peach trees. In February 2020 a jury unanimously awarded $15 million in compensatory damages and another $250 million in punitive damages finding that Monsanto (owned by Bayer AG) and BASF conspired
to create an "ecological disaster" in order to increase profits at the expense of farmers. The suit claimed that previously, manufacturers cautioned against spraying during hot summer months
when it could drift for long distances spreading to adjacent properties and non-targeted plants. However, Monsanto removed that caution when it introduced genetically engineered soybean and
cotton seed, which could tolerate being sprayed with Dicamba. Additionally, Monsanto said that it developed a new dicamba formula with BASF as the "Roundup Ready" system lead to an epidemic
of "glyophosate-resident weeds". During the trial the plaintiff’s attorney presented internal corporate communications which showed that not only did the companies predict that there would
complaints about Dicamba unintended damage, they had even planned how they would avoid liability.
https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/missouri-farmer-wins-265-million-verdict-against-monsanto
As of November 2023, Monsanto has paid out over $11 Billion in Roundup Lawsuits.
https://www.lawsuit-information-center.com/roundup-mdl-judge-question-10-billion-setttlement-proposal.html
In September of 2023 the City of Chicago filed a lawsuit against Monsanto and three of its corporate successors stating that although PCB’s were banned in 1979, they continued to be
released into waterways through stormwater and misleading the public regarding the contamination and health risks, causing widespread contamination throughout the City.
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/chicago-sues-monsanto/
St Louis County interactive property map shows the Farh Greenhouse lies in flood plain. Wild Horse Creek is nearby and empties into the Missouri River, were amwater.com says it gets
80% of its ground surface water.