Monsanto’s Jewish Supremacist History

by James Wilar Upton

Photo credit: march-against-monsanto.com

Monsanto is a multinational corporation whose very name induces a range of negative reactions – from disgust, to concern, to outrage over its latest injustices. While people are highly aware of its most prominent scandals, few are aware of the considerable Jewish involvement in Monsanto, from its very inception. Let us start from the beginning…

Jewish author Walter Ehrlich, in his book Zion in the Valley: The Twentieth Century [1997], writes on page 3:

“The Monsanto family was a longtime Sephardic Spanish family that fled the Inquisition to Holland. Isaac Rodriguez Monsanto eventually emigrated to America, later bringing over his brothers and sisters. The family became prosperous merchants, shippers, fur buyers, and bankers in New Orleans, despite the Code Noire. Furthermore, they practiced their Judaism openly, but some in succeeding generations abandoned their ancestral faith. In 1896 Olga Mendez Monsanto married John Francis Queeny, hard-driving chemical entrepreneur. He and his son Edgar Monsanto Queeny created the Monsanto Chemical Company, naming it after Olga Mendez Monsanto.”

Let us review the above. For those unaware, “Sephardic” indicates those Jews from Spain, Portugal and parts of North Africa. The Code Noire was a decree passed by King Louis XIV (of France) in 1685, which, among other things, outlawed all religions except Catholicism and ordered all Jews out of France’s colonies. The fact that the Monsantos not only operated in New Orleans and became incredibly rich and prominent, but also practiced their Judaism openly implies an immense amount of power and influence. Next we learn that in 1896, a gentile entrepreneur married a member of the rich, Jewish Monsanto family, fathered a child with her, and later created the Monsanto Chemical Company, giving it his wife’s family name. It bears reminding that despite being ethnically half-Jewish, since Edgar Monsanto Queeny had a Jewish mother, according to Jewish tradition he was Jewish, period.

Frequently, we are told that such Jewish families have a long history of championing civil rights and freedoms, motivated by their own experience with such things as the Code Noire. Before continuing on, let us step back in time, to discuss the Monsanto family’s involvement in the slave trade.

In The Early Jews of New Orleans [1969], published by the American Jewish Historical Society, Jewish author Bertram Wallace Korn writes on page 17 that Isaac Monsanto traded in a variety of merchandise, from “bullocks to slaves. The latter were not only bought and sold singly, but en masse. In 1768 the firm had an interest in a contracted shipment of eighty slaves who were, however, never delivered to New Orleans. Monsanto made frequent purchases at auction, the most important on record being the Trianon plantation of the late Chevalier Bernard de Vergès … ”. On page 61 Korn reiterates this theme, stating that “Many of the Monsanto brothers’ transactions were in slaves … ”.

Jewish author I. Harold Sharfman, in his book Jews on the Frontier [1977], writes (page 187): “Jacob Monsanto, son of Isaac Rodriguez Monsanto, one of the very first known Jews to settle in New Orleans, owner of a several-hundred-acre plantation at Manchac, fell in love with his slave, Mamy or Maimi William. He baptised and made her his mistress. Their daughter Sophia grew up to be a lovely quadroon.”

Discussing the Monsanto family’s activities in Louisiana during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Jewish author Saul S. Friedman writes in Jews and the American Slave Trade [1999], page 179: “Benjamin, Jacob, and Manuel Monsanto were involved in all sorts of successful business transactions (dry goods, food, salt, meat, ship’s cable). They also dealt in slaves ‘in the manner of the times’ and mostly for resale. Family records indicate that the Monsantos were not great slaveowners. Benjamin owned 17, Angelica 8, Eleanora 4, Manuel 12.”

Here we are told that the Monsanto family bought and sold slaves for profit, but this is downplayed because after all, they only kept 51 slaves for themselves.

Chemical Warfare, the Birth of Nuclear Weapons, and Soviet Spies

In his book Faith, Hope, and $5,000, The Story of Monsanto [1977], a book commissioned by the Monsanto company itself, author and Monsanto Director of Public Relations Dan J Forrestal writes on page 28 that Olga’s family crest (the Monsanto family crest) bore the phrase, “in bello quies” (“calm in war”). Indeed, on page 95 he writes, “At the close of 1941 Monsanto had four major war plants under construction or on the drawing boards”, including “two for the Chemical Warfare Service”.

On page 103 he writes, “War’s end also enabled Edgar Queeny to report that Dr Charles A Thomas had led the group of scientists (in 1943 and 1944) who refined the 94th element, plutonium, preparing the way for the development of the atom bomb.”

On page 54 of her book, The World According to Monsanto [2008] (also available in video documentary form), French author Marie-Monique Robin (winner of the French Senate’s Best Political Documentary award and the Rachel Carson prize) writes, “Monsanto embarked upon large-scale production of DDT in 1944, at a time when its ties to Pentagon strategists had become extremely close. In 1942, in fact, its research director, Charles Thomas, had been invited by General Leslie R. Groves to participate in the … Manhattan Project …”

In fact, Monsanto had been deeply involved in the Manhattan Project, which was run by Jewish physicist Robert Oppenheimer, assisting in the development of the first nuclear weapons. Specifically, Monsanto managed the Dayton Project, where Russian Jewish spy George Koval (codenamed Delmar) operated.

The National Academies Press Biographical Memoirs (1994), biography 18, Charles A Thomas, states on page 343, “Less well known was Dr. Thomas’s involvement in the purification of polonium, which was a part of the triggering device for the Nagasaki bomb. This work was done in several different buildings in Dayton, Ohio … “; on the same page is stated that after the war, “ … in 1946 he was appointed by Dean Acheson to serve with Robert Oppenheimer, David Lilienthal and others on a special Board of Consultants formed to appraise matters relating to international inspection and the nuclear potential of various nations.” David Lilienthal, for those not aware, was the head of the US Atomic Energy Commission (and the son of Austro-Hungarian Jewish immigrants).

Returning to Russian Jewish spy George Koval (Delmar), Smithsonian Magazine’s May 2009 article entitled George Koval: Atomic Spy Unmasked describes Koval’s unfettered access to Monsanto’s nuclear research laboratory at Dayton: “On June 27, 1945, after almost a year at Oak Ridge, Koval was transferred to a top-secret laboratory in Dayton, Ohio. This may have been his most damaging placement; it was there that the polonium-based initiator went into production. Once again, Koval was designated a health physics officer, free to roam the installation.” The article later notes that although United States officials believed the Soviets were years from developing a nuclear weapon, “ … on August 29, 1949, the Soviets detonated their first atomic bomb, at their Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan. The device was a plutonium weapon. Not until 2007 did Russian military officials disclose one crucial factor in their accelerated achievement: the initiator for that bomb was “prepared to the ‘recipe’ provided by military intelligence agent Delmar—Zhorzh Abramovich Koval,” the Defense Ministry newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda reported when Koval received his gold star.“

Agent Orange, Dioxin, and Intentional Destruction of Foreign Food Supplies

Forrestal’s book corroborates on page 263 what Robin’s book states on page 54 – that Monsanto began producing the toxic insecticide DDT (on a large scale, as Robin adds) in 1944. This was, however, neither the beginning nor the end of Monsanto’s involvement in intentionally destructive chemicals.

As Forrestal’s book notes on page 179, by Edgar Monsanto Queeny’s retirement in 1962, among the Monsanto lineup, “the broadleaf weed killers and brush-control compounds 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T were popular”.

2,4-D is an aggressive chemical herbicide formulated in the lab of Juda Hirsch Quastel in 1942. The book Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, Volume 36 [1990], page 381 discusses in detail Quastel being Jewish, including discussion of whether his ancestors were Sephardic or Ashkenazic. Page 403 tells the story of Quastel’s research team creating 2,4-D in 1942, and page 404 reveals Quastel’s real interest in 2,4-D: on November 17, 1942 Quastel “raised the possibility that 2,4-D could be used in war” (against the Germans) to destroy food crops. Page 412 notes that Quastel was “a devoted Zionist”, and was “acquainted with Dr Chaim Weizmann, later the first president of Israel.” As an aside, pages 401-402 note that Quastel’s team later created Krilium soil conditioner for Monsanto.

On page 39 of Robin’s book she states that in 1960, Monsanto “was about to secure the largest contract in its history: the production of Agent Orange for the Vietnam War.” On page 41 she writes that of all the defoliants used in Vietnam, “the most toxic, ‘Agent Orange’, introduced in 1965, was made of half 2,4,5-T and half 2,4-D. The March, 1971 document entitled Report of 2,4,5-T (document 2001305822), by the Executive Office of the President, Office of Science and Technology, states on page 52 that Monsanto’s 2,4,5-T was found to contain up to 29 times the dioxin of that of its main competitor Dow Chemical.

According to the EPA.GOV document entitled Basic Information about Dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD) in Drinking Water, “Dioxin is not produced or used commercially in the United States. It is a contaminant formed in the production of some chlorinated organic compounds, including a few herbicides … ” Later in the same page it is explained that dioxin is so toxic that “The MCLG [Maximum Contaminant Level Goal] for dioxin is zero.” However, because of cost and the inability of public water systems to detect and remove all traces of dioxin, “EPA has set an enforceable regulation for dioxin, called a maximum contaminant level (MCL), at 0.00000003 mg/L or 30 ppq.” That’s 30 parts per quadrillion, equivalent to slightly less than a single drop of water in 440,000,000 gallons of water (or 667 olympic swimming pools). Any public water supply which exceeds this amount is in violation of EPA regulation and must initiate decontamination procedures.

On page 44 of her book Robin writes that on February 22, 1965, Dow Chemical quietly proposed a confidential meeting with Monsanto and the other five companies engaged in making Agent Orange, to discuss the toxic dioxin contamination in 2,4,5-T, what should be done to correct the problem, and “whether the government should be informed.” Monsanto rebuffed, criticizing Dow for even considering informing the government.

Bribery, Corruption, and Circumvention of Safety Regulations

Robin writes on page 67 of her book, “In February 2004, the Vietnam Association of Agent Orange Victims filed a complaint in federal district court in New York. But it was dismissed in March 2005 by Judge Jack B. Weinstein, the same judge who had presided over the 1983 settlement, on the grounds that the military use of herbicides was not prohibited by any international law and could therefore not be considered a war crime.”

According to the April 16, 1999 Jewish Week article, “Courier In Drug Case Surrenders In U.S.” Judge Weinstein also handled the infamous case of the Rabbi cocaine traffickers and money launderers in 1995-1996, to whom he gave light sentences mostly consisting of fines; and as  the April 24, 1975 Jewish Telegraphic Agency article, “Federal Authorities Scored for Refusal to Allow Kahane to Have Kosher Food in Prison” states, Weinstein was judge over the case in which Rabbi Meir Kahane (founder of the Jewish terrorist group JDL) demanded kosher food in prison: “Kahane, who was sent to the halfway house so he could observe Passover, was allowed by Weinstein to remain there after the JDL leader protested he could not get kosher food at the Allenwood facility. Under an order from the judge, Kahane has been allowed to leave the halfway house for several hours daily to get kosher food and to worship.”

In case there was any question, Great American Judges: An Encyclopedia, Volume 1 states on page 800, “Jack B. Weinstein was born on 21 August 1921 in Wichita, Kansas. His grandparents were poor Russian Jewish immigrants who had come to the United States at the turn of the century.”

On page 297 of her book, Robin writes, “On January 6, 2005, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched a two-pronged proceeding against Monsanto, accused of corruption in Indonesia. According to the SEC, whose findings can be consulted on the web, Monsanto representatives in Jakarta had paid estimated bribes of $700,000 to 140 Indonesian government officials between 1997 and 2002 for them to favor the introduction of Bt cotton into the country. … In addition, Monsanto’s Asian subsidiary was said to have paid $50,000 to a senior official in the Environmental Ministry for him to reverse a decree requiring an assessment of the environmental impact of Bt cotton before it was marketed. Far from denying these accusations, Monsanto signed an agreement with the SEC in April 2005 providing for the payment of a $1.5 million fine.”

Indeed, as the January 20, 2005 Asia Times article “The Seeds of a Bribery Scandal in Indonesia” states, “According to SEC documents, Monsanto had retained Jakarta-based consulting company, PT Harvest International Indonesia, to assist it with obtaining the various government approvals and licenses necessary to sell its products there.”, adding that, despite the fact that Monsanto agreed to the SEC’s ruling, “Harvest’s president-director, US national Harvey Goldstein, has denied that his company had a hand in any bribery.“ Goldstein’s ethnicity can perhaps be inferred…

Robin writes on page 165, discussing “the Democratic administration of Bill Clinton, whose campaign director was Mickey Kantor, later U.S. trade representative and commerce secretary, and, as I’ve already noted, later a member of the Monsanto board of directors. In 1999, the intransigent American trade representative became famous for the harsh comments he made against his European counterparts when they announced their intention to label GMO products. In this area, his greatest ally was Dan Glickman.”, adding later on the same page, “Appointed Secretary of Agriculture just after Monsanto’s transgenic soybeans had gone on the market, Dan Glickman was the one who authorized all subsequent GMO crops. When I met him in July 2006, he had completely changed hats: in September 2004 he had been appointed CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, which brings together the six majors in Hollywood.”

According to Michael “Mickey” Kantor’s Bloomberg Business Executive Profile, “He served as a Director of Monsanto Company since June 2000. He served as a Director of former Monsanto since 1997.”

In his book Jewish Power [1996], Jewish author J.J. Goldberg states on page 392, “[President] Clinton’s Jewish cabinet secretaries include Robert Reich (Labor), Robert Rubin (Treasury), Dan Glickman (Agriculture), [and] Mickey Kantor (Commerce).”

In summary, President Bill Clinton’s heavily Jewish administration included his Jewish campaign director, Mickey Kantor, now a U.S. trade representative, working with his Jewish Secretary of Agriculture, Dan Glickman, who was busy authorizing Monsanto’s GMO crops in the US, to berate and pressure European officials to not label GMO products; Kantor later took a high-level position at Monsanto, while Glickman took a more stereotypical route and became CEO of Hollywood’s MPAA.

On page 187 Robin notes that in the late 90’s, Monsanto “was headed by Robert B. Shapiro, who had succeeded Richard Mahoney in April 1995, and remained CEO until January 2001.”, adding on the same page, “… this lawyer from a well-to-do family in Manhattan was an exceptional figure in the history of the company: he was a Democrat and very close to the Clinton administration. That is presumably why the company contributed generously to the president’s reelection campaign in 1996 and Clinton praised Monsanto in his State of the Union address on February 4, 1997. Soon afterward, Shapiro was appointed to the President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, which worked closely with Mickey Kantor, the trade representative and future Monsanto board member.” Given what we’ve already seen, it is perhaps not surprising that Monsanto’s Jewish CEO would be appointed by Clinton to a presidential position, but it is interesting that he worked closely with the Jewish future board member Mickey Kantor.

On page 164 Robin states that “Michael Friedman, former deputy director of the FDA, was hired by Monsanto’s pharmaceutical subsidiary Searle.”

According to the May 6, 2004 Jewish Journal article “Q & A With Dr. Michael A. Friedman”, “[Friedman] served as the acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration under President Bill Clinton”.

Jewish Supremacists Jump Ship

Evidence suggests that in recent years, as Monsanto has become a worldwide symbol of corrupt corporate-political power, prominent Jewish involvement has declined, and not just in terms of a decreased representation in upper management.

For example, the August 15, 2011 Wall Street Journal article “Soros Fund Cut Stakes In Citi, Wells Fargo, Monsanto”, states that “[George] Soros reduced his stake in Monsanto by 2.6 million shares to 79,400. The position is now valued at $5.8 million, according to the filing.” That means Soros’ previous Monsanto holdings were worth about $195 million.

It does not seem out of the question to view the Jewish jump-ship from Monsanto as a victory for the side of truth. It was the populace alongside non-profit organizations who fought back against this monstrosity, and even while many were unaware of the Jewish supremacist history of Monsanto, the noise and resistance scared the majority of Jewish involvement away. Monsanto has not ceased to be a threat, but it has been set back considerably, and those who were once willing to openly be its string-pullers are now a lot more hesitant. This should be considered as a model for further activism.