MONSANTO EXPANDS INTO FRUITS & VEGETABLES

[Health Dr. 2]

This proves an excellent argument for buying organic fruits and vegetables
or growing your own. We just don't know what the effect that Biotech food
may have on the body and may not know for many years. What we do know is
that chemicals and toxins, when put into the body, eventually cause disease.
I trust Monsanto about as far as I can see them although they are, by no
means, the only company guilty of dishonesty and underhandedness. They do
not have a good track record as far as being concerned about people's
health. This is another "follow the money" type of situation. If you can't
afford to eat organically then start now to plan your vegetable garden.
Container gardening is an excellent choice for those that do not have access
to land. Search out for some farmer's markets or farmers in your area that
grow organically. Some organizations such as churches are allowing members
to cultivate gardens on the organization's property for the full use of it's
members. I would guess if consumer's would decide to boycott anything that
is Biotech, Monsanto and other's "might" think twice. Be smart and do your
homework, your health may depend on it.

Your comments are welcomed!

Take Care & Be Well,
Health Dr. 2

MONSANTO EXPANDS INTO FRUITS & VEGETABLES

In a move that opens the door to the aggressive marketing of biotech fruits
and vegetables, Monsanto has agreed to purchase Seminis, the world's largest
producer of fruit and vegetable seeds, for about $1 billion.

Monsanto seems to be downplaying the significance of this move in relation
to genetically engineered fruits and vegetables. In a somewhat coy
statement, their chief executive officer, Hugh Grant, stated "In the long
term, there may be opportunities in biotech."

Many activists feel this is a gross understatement and that Monsanto will
push hard to bring genetically engineered vegetables and fruits out sooner
rather than later. Some insiders speculate that Monsanto wants to get a
significant variety of biotech crops into the marketplace quickly while the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations are still incredibly lax.

Until recently, a significant focus of Monsanto was to move forward on the
introduction of genetically engineered wheat. However, U.S. and
international opposition to biotech wheat caused the company to shelve
those plans in the short term.

Some feel this new grandiose move by Monsanto into the fruit and vegetable
market is a strategic move to gain broader acceptance of biotech crops. They
feel Monsanto will then again try to move forward with genetically
engineered wheat.

Monsanto is considered by many to be one of the world's most controversial
companies. The company has faced numerous legal charges over the years that
continue even in recent days.

In 2001, Monsanto was found guilty of releasing tons of PCBs into the city
of Anniston, Alabama and covering up its actions for decades. The jury found
Monsanto liable on all six charges it considered: negligence, wantonness,
suppression of the truth, nuisance, trespass and outrage. Under Alabama law,
the charge of "outrage" requires conduct "so outrageous in character and
extreme in degree as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency so as to be
regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in civilized society."

Most recently, on January 6, 2005, the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) filed two settled enforcement proceedings charging Monsanto
with making illicit payments in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices
Act (FCPA). It appears that Monsanto had bribed more than 140 current and
former Indonesian government officials and their families by an amount
totaling more than $700,000 between 1997 and 2002. The cash was paid to
allow the company to develop genetically engineered crops in Indonesia.

The SEC lawsuit charged Monsanto with violating the FCPA and imposed a civil
penalty of $500,000. They also issued an administrative order finding that
Monsanto violated the anti-bribery, books-and-records, and internal-controls
provisions of the FCPA and ordered the company to cease and desist from such
violations. Further, the U.S. Department of Justice filed criminal
information charging that Monsanto violated the anti-bribery and books and
records provisions of the FCPA. Monsanto agreed to pay a $1 million monetary
penalty to defer prosecution charges by the Department of Justice.

Considering the track record of Monsanto, you might think that the FDA would
closely scrutinize any new genetically engineered crops the company plans to
bring to market. But under current FDA regulations, Monsanto is not even
required to notify the agency that they are bringing out a new genetically
engineered crop (unless the nutrient value is significantly altered or the
product contains a known allergen.) Apparently the FDA trusts Monsanto to do
the right thing. Do you?

Posted below are three articles about Monsanto's $1 billion purchase of
Seminis. The first article from the Wall Street Journal is titled "Monsanto
Co. to Pay $1 Billion For Produce-Seed Firm Seminis." The second article
from the Associated Press is titled "Monsanto to buy seed company Seminis in
$1B deal." And the third article from The New York Times is titled "Monsanto
Buying Leader in Fruit and Vegetable Seeds."

Craig Winters
President
The Campaign
PO Box 55699
Seattle, WA 98155
Tel: 425-771-4049
E-mail: mailto:label@thecampaign.org
Web Site: http://www.thecampaign.org

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Monsanto Co. to Pay $1 Billion For Produce-Seed Firm Seminis

By SCOTT KILMAN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
January 25, 2005

Monsanto Co., looking for places to grow after converting many of America's
corn, soybean and cotton farms to biotechnology, agreed to buy Seminis Inc.
for $1 billion in order to expand its sights to vegetables and fruit.

The cost of the acquisition, which also calls for the assumption of an
additional $400 million in debt, startled some investors. That's because, by
some measures, the closely held Oxnard, Calif., company was valued at
slightly more than $300 million in 2003, when a mountain of debt forced
Seminis to go private.

In New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday at 4 p.m., Monsanto
traded at $54.10, off $3.62, or 6.3%.

Monsanto executives yesterday defended the cost of the deal, its biggest
since the late 1990s, arguing that while Seminis brings little in the way of
biotechnology skills, it opens up new growth opportunities. Seminis, which
has developed crops such as the baby carrot and the personal-size watermelon
through conventional breeding, controls roughly one-third of the seed used
to grow the fruits and vegetables found in most U.S. supermarkets.

Cobbled together in the 1990s by Alfonso Romo Garza, a Mexican entrepreneur
and Olympic horseman who hoped to become as dominant marketing vegetable
seeds as Monsanto was with seeds for larger-scale crops, Seminis controls
23% of the world's tomato-seed market, 34% of the hot pepper-seed market and
38% of the cucumber-seed market.

Executives at Monsanto, St. Louis, are playing down their interest in
genetically modifying these sorts of crops anytime soon. Although U.S.
consumers have largely accepted the presence in their groceries of
genetically modified ingredients made from soybeans and corn, opinion
research suggests that more shoppers would be leery if confronted with
something they eat whole.

Still, Monsanto executives made clear that they hope to genetically modify
vegetables and fruit in the future, if the market conditions are right.
Seminis "makes a great platform," said Brett Begemann, the Monsanto
executive vice president who will oversee the acquired company.

The planned acquisition, which allows Monsanto to leapfrog DuPont Co. as the
world's biggest marketer of conventional and genetically modified seed, is a
new direction for Hugh Grant, who returned the company to popularity on Wall
Street since becoming Monsanto's chief executive officer in May 2003 by
cutting costs and narrowing its focus to a handful of crops. The wheat
business was jettisoned, for example. Monsanto's stock price has roughly
doubled during Mr. Grant's tenure.

After years of cost cutting and retrenchment, Monsanto is eager to find new
places to sell seed. Monsanto already saturates much of the American grain
belt. Although the European Union is lifting its de-facto moratorium on
genetically modified crops, the business of selling biotech seeds there will
be negligible for the foreseeable future.

Monsanto executives figure they can speed development of new vegetable
varieties by Seminis by giving it access to technology such as molecular
markers, which help plant breeders track desirable traits. Seminis, the
world's biggest produce-seed firm, generated a net loss of $16.3 million on
sales of $525.8 million in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30.

***************************************************************

Monsanto to buy seed company Seminis in $1B deal

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Agricultural biotechnology giant Monsanto (MON) said Monday
it will buy vegetable and fruit seed company Seminis for roughly $1B in
cash, broadening its portfolio of seeds and tapping into the trend of
healthier diets.

Monsanto said it will assume an additional $400 million in debt by Seminis,
the supplier of more than 3,500 seed varieties to commercial fruit and
vegetable growers, dealers, distributors and wholesalers in more than 150
countries.

Monsanto - already staking more of its future on seeds that include
genetically modified ones able to withstand weeds, insects and disease -
said it also would make a performance-based payment of up to $125 million by
the end of fiscal 2007.

"The addition of Seminis will be an excellent fit for our company as global
production of vegetables and fruits, and the trend toward healthier diets,
has been growing steadily over the past several years," said Hugh Grant,
Monsanto's chairman, president and chief executive.

Grant called 10-year-old Seminis, with sales of $526 million in its 2004
fiscal year, "uniquely positioned to capitalize on this fast-growing segment
of agriculture and the acquisition likewise expands Monsanto's ability to
grow."

Citing the pending acquisition, Monsanto pared its estimate for fiscal 2005
earnings to 86 cents to $1.06 a share, down from a previous range of $1.56
to $1.71.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call were expecting Monsanto's earnings
of $2.05 a share.

Pending regulatory approvals, Monsanto expects the deal to close sometime
between March and May. The company said the deal should be accretive to
earnings per share, cash flow and revenue growth in fiscal year 2006, its
first full year of operation.

The move comes two months after Monsanto's newly formed holding company
American Seeds acquired the seed company Channel Bio for $120 million cash.
Monsanto formed American Seeds to support regional seed businesses with
capital, genetics and technology investments.

Seminis will be a wholly owned Monsanto subsidiary, headed by its existing
president and CEO.

Monsanto said it expects to continue Seminis' focus on developing products
using advanced breeding techniques, with biotech applications an option well
down the road.

That push comes as biotech crops are flourishing in the United States and
taking root overseas, accounting for several tens of billions of dollars in
crops in five leading countries, despite European resistance to the
technology.

Alfonso Romo, chairman and chief executive of Seminis, said "we are bringing
a complementary technology base and specialized expertise that can not only
support economic growth for farmers, but contribute to the health and
nutrition of consumers on a global scale."

***************************************************************

January 25, 2005
Monsanto Buying Leader in Fruit and Vegetable Seeds
The New York Times
By ANDREW POLLACK

In at least a temporary diversification away from genetically modified
crops, Monsanto, the agribusiness company, agreed yesterday to pay about $1
billion to acquire Seminis, the world's largest producer of fruit and
vegetable seeds.

Until now, Monsanto has focused on corn, soybeans and cotton seeds, and on
using genetic engineering to produce crops that are resistant to herbicides
and insects.

But executives said yesterday that Monsanto would develop new vegetable
varieties using conventional breeding. They said the fruit and vegetable
seed business could grow without biotechnology, based on a consumer movement
toward healthier diets.

"It's fine to dream, but you have to decide what you're going to do tomorrow
morning," Monsanto's chief executive, Hugh Grant, said about biotech fruits
and vegetables during a conference call with analysts. "In the long term,
there may be opportunities in biotech."

Some genetically engineered papaya and squash are on the market. The first
biotech crop to be commercialized was the Flavr Savr tomato, developed by a
biotechnology start-up that Monsanto acquired. But that tomato did not catch
on.

Now industry executives say it is difficult to bring new biotech fruits and
vegetables to market because of consumer resistance. Also, fruits and
vegetables are small crops, making it difficult to recoup development and
regulatory costs. A few years ago, Monsanto decided to focus its biotech
efforts on major crops.

The acquisition comes as Monsanto has been shifting its business from
agricultural chemicals to seeds and biotechnology. Over the last decade, it
has aggressively acquired seed companies, mainly in the corn and soy
business, igniting some concerns that the markets were becoming too
concentrated.

The new acquisition not only makes Monsanto the largest supplier of
vegetable seeds in the world, but also, according to the company's
calculations, the largest seed and biotech company over all. It would
surpass DuPont, which owns the corn seed giant Pioneer Hi-Bred, in terms of
revenues derived from seeds and biotech traits.

Seminis, based in Oxnard, Calif., had sales last year of $526 million, with
its leading products being tomato, cucumber, beans and pepper seeds. Its
main brands are Seminis, Asgrow, Petoseed and Royal Sluis and it sells
mainly to farmers, not gardeners. But, with partners, it has recently
started to develop some consumer items, like the Bambino miniature
watermelon and Lettuce Jammers, lettuce in the shape of a taco shell.

Its main rivals in fruit and vegetable seeds are Syngenta of Switzerland and
Limagrain of France. Less than 1 percent of Seminis's sales come from
genetically modified seeds.

Under the deal, Monsanto will pay about $1 billion in cash and assume $400
million in debt. It might also pay an additional sum of up to $125 million
by the end of fiscal year 2007 based on the performance of Seminis.

Seminis was started in 1994 by a Mexican entrepreneur, Alfonso Romo Garza,
who decided to create a giant vegetable seed company by acquiring smaller
ones. The company went public in 1999 at $15 a share, though Savia, a
Mexican company affiliated with Mr. Romo, retained majority ownership.

But the company suffered severe losses and in 2003, majority control was
acquired for $3.78 a share by Fox Paine & Company, a buyout firm.

Fox Paine, based in Foster City, Calif., paid $163 million for what is now a
58 percent stake in Seminis. New management helped spur growth and restore
profits before special charges. Based on the $1 billion Monsanto is paying,
Fox Paine will get about $580 million, the president and co-founder, Dexter
Paine, said.

Shares of Monsanto, which have nearly doubled in the last year, fell $3.62,
or 6 percent, yesterday to $54.10, as investors seemed to be surprised by
the size and price of the deal.

"I think the market was expecting strategic acquisitions of the bolt-on
variety," like small corn-seed companies, said Kevin McCarthy, analyst at
Banc of America Securities. "This deal is clearly in a different league."

Frank Mitsch, analyst at Fulcrum Global Partners, pointing to how much the
price of Seminis has risen since Fox Paine bought it in 2003, said, "It does
make one step back and wonder as to why this transaction didn't occur 18
months ago."

Monsanto has said that sales of its genetically modified soy, corn and
cotton continue to grow, but that it has had trouble expanding genetic
engineering to other crops.

It dropped an effort to introduce genetically modified wheat last year after
some American farmers said such an introduction might hurt exports. And its
genetically modified grass for golf courses has run into opposition from
environmental groups.

With fruits and vegetables, it said, it will analyze genes in the crops to
speed conventional breeding of improved varieties but would refrain for now
from putting new genes into the crops.

[Guest]

i couldnt agree more. monsanto is a bunch of weasels concerned with profits, destroying our environment and our health