The Poison Lobby: Monsanto & Its Political Musclemen

For years, Monsanto, the agri-chemical giant, has regularly popped up on lists of the most respected American companies compiled by business publications, such as Fortune and Forbes. The image in the U.S. is carefully cultivated by a public relations campaign, portraying the St. Louis-based firm as the small farmer's friend and as being dedicated to ending the scourge of global hunger. "Doing well by doing good" is the company's domestic motto, spread across glossy magazine ads and discreetly placed television spots.

But Monsanto's reputation in the international community is distinctly less favorable. The European Community moved to block the import of the company's genetically-engineered products, such as bovine growth hormone and soybeans. And in the developing world, Monsanto has been fiercely attacked as promoting the equivalent of a kind of biological and chemical warfare on native ecologies and communities. The Round-Up Ready seeds are promoted as "insect resistant." But, in fact, are genetically-designed to stand up to heavier doses of Monsanto's toxic pesticide Round-Up. In recent months, Monsanto has come under fire for pushing so-called "terminator seeds" on cotton and soybean croplands in India and Africa. These seeds grow genetically engineered plants that don't themselves produce seeds; thus, farmers are required to buy all their seed from Monsanto.

The stakes are high. For example, the Consumers' Union estimates that Monsanto's bovine growth hormone, rBGH, could earn the company $550 million a year in the United States and another $1 billion a year internationally. The haul from Monsanto's Round-Up Ready soybeans, potatoes, and corn and its terminator seeds could be substantially--perhaps tens of billions--more.

Monsanto has always been able to count on the aid of the U.S. government to promote its products. With the ceaseless encouragement of the Department of Agriculture, American farmers have planted more than 50 million acres of Monsanto's genetically engineered crops in just the past four years. The Food and Drug Administration has also played along, acceding to the company's demand that genetically engineered crops not be labeled as such.

When faced with the almost certain prospect that the European Union would ban the import of Monsanto's genetically engineered corn in 1998, the company unleashed a lobbying campaign, flying a group of critical journalists to the U.S., where they visited Monsanto's corporate headquarters and its labs. Then the writers were taken to Washington, where they were given a tour of the White House, including a rare visit to the Oval Office. Top Clinton aides rallied to the company's defense, including U.S. Trade rep Charlene Barshevsky. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, and Commerce Secretary Bill Daley all lobbied their European counterparts on behalf of the company. Even Bill Clinton and Al Gore got in on the act, engaging in some last minute arm-twisting of the Irish Prime Minister and French President Lionel Jospin. Both the French and the Irish caved in to the pressure last July. This spring Monsanto's genetically engineered corn will be planted in Europe for the first time.

One of Monsanto's D.C. political strategists, Toby Moffett, the former liberal congressman from Connecticut, smugly bragged about the victory to the St. Louis Dispatch. "I'm 54 years old and I've been in a lot of coalitions in my life, but this is one of the most breathtaking I've seen," Moffett gloated.

How can Monsanto's extraordinary leverage be explained? Political influence often comes down to the judicious application of campaign cash. Monsanto, a $7.5 billion company, has not neglected this approach, sluicing nearly $200,000 a year into the coffers of candidates for federal office and the two major political parties. But this is a relatively paltry amount compared to the millions pumped into the system by big oil or even by its chemical rivals DuPont, ICI, and Dow. Instead, Monsanto has realized the efficacy of a well-financed lobbying strategy. In 1997, for example, the chemical giant invested $4 million in lobbying the U.S. Congress and the White House on issues ranging from the federal tax code and agricultural subsidies to hazardous waste laws and food safety regulations.

To protect its tax loopholes, Monsanto retains the services of David Bockorny, a former legislative affairs specialist in the Reagan White House on tax matters, and Catherine Porter, former chief trade and tax counsel to Senator John Chaffee, the powerful Republican from Rhode Island.

On the troublesome matter of patents--a huge issue in the genetic engineering field--Monsanto has recruited the help of Dennis Deconcini, the former Democratic Senator from Arizona. Deconcini's firm, Parry & Romani, has carved out a specialty in the field of agricultural and pharmaceutical trademarks, the dubious practice of staking property rights to native seed stocks. Similar work is done for Monsanto by the firm of Timmons and Company, a Democratic lobby shop, which includes Ellen Boyle, former press secretary to Tip O'Neill, William Cable, former deputy assistant for legislative affairs to Jimmy Carter, and John S. Orlando, who served as chief of staff to John Dingell, the most powerful Democrat in the House of Representatives.

Perhaps no American company has as zealously exploited the so-called revolving door as Monsanto, which has seized on ex-Clinton aides and federal bureaucrats to advance its interests in Washington.

Take the case of Michael Taylor. After graduating from law school at the University of Virginia in 1976, Taylor went to work for the Food and Drug Administration, eventually rising to the position of executive assistant to the FDA's administrator. Then Taylor left the federal government for a post in the high powered D.C. law firm of King and Spaulding. Taylor was the firm's specialist in food and drug matters pending before the FDA. During his tenure at King and Spaulding Taylor's client included Coca-Cola, Carnation, the Food Biotechnology Council, and Monsanto. One of Taylor's duties was to represent Monsanto's efforts to get its bovine growth hormone approved by the FDA. Taylor left King and Spaulding in 1991 to rejoin the FDA, this time as Deputy Commission for Policy. In that position Taylor was responsible for writing guidelines on the use and marketing of the controversial hormone that were favorable to the company. Specifically, Taylor drafted guidelines that exempted milk producers from labeling dairy products from cows that had been treated with rBHG. Now Taylor has returned to Monsanto, working on what the company calls "long range planning."

Much of the legwork for Monsanto on the Hill in the battle to secure the approval of rBGH and beat back any mandatory labeling requirements was done by the small but influential firm of Lesher and Russell. This three person firm includes two former Deputy Secretaries of the Agriculture Department, Richard Lesher, and Randall M. Russell.

During his days at King and Spaulding, Taylor also authored more than a dozen articles critical of the Delaney Clause, a federal law passed in 1958 prohibiting the introduction of known carcinogens to processed foods. The Delaney Clause had long been opposed by Monsanto and other chemical and pesticide companies. When Taylor rejoined the federal government, he continued to argue that Delaney should be overturned. This was finally done when President Clinton signed the so-called Food Quality Protection Act on the eve of the 1996 elections.

In the fight to bring down Delaney, Monsanto secured the services of the Duberstein Group, a lobbying firm created by Colin Powell's friend, Ken Duberstein, former chief of staff in George Bush's White House. Duberstein's outfit is a sterling example of the bi-partisan nature of lobbying; its roster of lobbyists includes former Reagan and Bush Administration officials, an advisor to Vice-President Walter Mondale, a former aide to Trent Lott, and David Bonior's former chief legislative aide.

Monsanto has even penetrated the ranks of a non-profit consumer group, the Safe Food Campaign. The Safe Food Campaign is represented by Carol Tucker Foreman, the managing partner of Foreman and Heidepreim. Foreman founded the Safe Food Campaign, an organization which lobbies for tougher food inspection standards, after serving as an assistant secretary of Agriculture during the Carter administration. A native of Arkansas, Foreman is the sister of Jim Guy Tucker, recently convicted of fraud in one of the Whitewater trials. Foreman, however, also represents the Beef Council, Proctor & Gamble, and Monsanto. In her efforts for Monsanto, Foreman works closely with Dr. Virginia Weldon, the company's chief public relations officer. Foreman used her close ties with the Clinton administration to get Weldon appointed to Clinton's Committee of Scientific Advisors and Al Gore's Sustainable Development Roundtable--entities which recommended that the Delaney Clause be replaced with more flexible legislation.

But the company may have secured its biggest coup in 1997, when it brought onto its board Mickey Kantor, the former Secretary of Commerce and one of Bill Clinton's closest advisors. Kantor joined long-time Monsanto board members who are Washington insiders: William Ruckleshaus, former director of the EPA, and Gwendolyn King, head of Social Security Administration from 1989 to 1993. Monsanto compensates its directors handsomely. For his services, Kantor will receive nearly $100,000 a year. Even so, it's a good investment for the company. It was Kantor who opened the doors to the White House and got the administration to threaten the European Union on the matter of Monsanto's genetically engineered grain.

Kantor's new law firm, Mayer, Brown & Platt, watches out for the company's interests in matters of international trade, food safety and product labeling. Prior to Kantor's arrival at the firm in 1997, one of Mayer, Brown & Platt's top lobbyists was William Daley. Daley was tapped by Bill Clinton to fill Kantor's spot in the cabinet as Secretary of Commerce. In that capacity, he has led the charge for Monsanto on several continents. When you've got friends like this," says Michael Colby of the Vermont-based Food & Water, "you don't have to concern yourself with your enemies."