Editing Monsanto (section)

==== 1901 to WWII ====
In 1901, Monsanto was founded in St. Louis, Missouri, as a [[chemical company]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |url = http://www.genengnews.com/gen-articles/biotech-firms-need-innovation-strategies/5563/ |title=Biotech Firms Need Innovation Strategies |last = Glick |first=J. Leslie |date=September 1, 2015 |work=[[Gen. Eng. Biotechnol. News|Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News]] |access-date=September 29, 2015 |page = 11}}{{Open access}}</ref> The founder was [[John Francis Queeny]], who, at age 42, was a 30‑year veteran of the nascent pharmaceutical industry.<ref>[http://www.ja.org/nested/stlouis/John_Queeny.pdf] brief bio from Junior Achievement {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206123651/http://www.ja.org/nested/stlouis/John_Queeny.pdf|date=February 6, 2009}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{harvnb|Ehrlich|1997|p=3}}</ref> 

The company's first products were commodity food additives, such as the [[artificial sweetener]] [[saccharin]], [[caffeine]] and [[vanillin]].<ref>Erik Simani, World Resources Institute. 2001. [http://pdf.wri.org/bell/case_1-56973-475-5_full_version_a_english.pdf The Monsanto Company: Quest for Sustainability]</ref>{{rp|6}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Our history – Early years|url=http://www.monsanto.com/whoweare/Pages/monsanto-history.aspx|publisher=Monsanto official website|access-date=September 27, 2013}}</ref><ref>Marc S. Reisch for Chemical & Engineering News. January 12, 1998 [http://pubs.acs.org/cen/hotarticles/cenear/980112/coal.html From Coal Tar to Crafting a Wealth of Diversity]</ref><ref>Robert Ancuceanu. [http://practica-farmaceutica.medica.ro/reviste_med/download/practica_farmaceutica/2011.2/PF_Nr-2_2011_Art-1.pdf Saccharin – urban myths and scientific data] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140515182436/http://practica-farmaceutica.medica.ro/reviste_med/download/practica_farmaceutica/2011.2/PF_Nr-2_2011_Art-1.pdf |date=May 15, 2014 }} Practica Farmaceutică 2011 4(2):69–72</ref><ref>{{cite book |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=uVq_AAAAQBAJ}} |title=Sweet Stuff: An American History of Sweeteners from Sugar to Sucralose | publisher=Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press |author=Warner, Deborah Jean |year=2011 |pages=182–190 |isbn=978-1-935623-05-2}}</ref>

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 [[polychlorinated biphenyl|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, Illinois|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.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB115984289083380869|title=Yes, in My Backyard: Tiny Sauget, Illinois, Likes Business Misfits|last=Spain|first=William|date=2006-10-03|work=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=2017-12-22|language=en-US|issn=0099-9660}}</ref>

In 1935, Monsanto bought the [[Swann Chemical Company]] in [[Anniston, Alabama]], and thereby entered the business of producing [[polychlorinated biphenyl|PCBs]].<ref name="CIA1">{{cite web|title=Poisoned by PCBs: 'A Lack of Control'|url=http://www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/dirtysecrets/anniston/2.asp|website=Chemical Industry Archives|access-date=November 30, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210110457/http://www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/dirtysecrets/anniston/2.asp|archive-date=December 10, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Head">{{cite journal |last1=Head|first1=Thomas R. III|title=PCBs—The Rise and Fall of an Industrial Miracle|journal=Natural Resources & Environment|date=Spring 2005|page=18|url=http://www.americanbar.org/tools/digitalassetabstract.html/content/dam/aba/publishing/natural_resources_environment/environ_mo_premium_nr_nre_spring05_Head.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208230006/http://www.americanbar.org/tools/digitalassetabstract.html/content/dam/aba/publishing/natural_resources_environment/environ_mo_premium_nr_nre_spring05_Head.pdf |archive-date=2015-12-08 |url-status=live|access-date=November 30, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Montague">{{cite web |last1=Montague|first1=Peter|title=How We Got Here – Part 1: The History of Chlorinated Diphenyl (PCB's)|url=http://www.hudsonwatch.net/rachels01.html|website=HudsonWatch.net}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Landau">Ralph Landau, [http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4548&page=338 "Charles Allen Thomas," ''Memorial Tributes''], vol. 2, National Academy of Engineering</ref>{{rp|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.<ref name="Bird">David Bird, [https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/31/obituaries/charles-thomas-ex-chairman-of-monsanto.html "Charles Thomas, Ex-Chairman of Monsanto" (obituary)], ''The New York Times'', March 31, 1982.</ref> In 1943, Thomas was called to a meeting in Washington, D.C., with [[Leslie Groves]], commander of the [[Manhattan Project]], and [[James Bryant Conant|James Conant]], president of [[Harvard University]] and chairman of the [[National Defense Research Committee]] (NDRC).<ref name="Building">''Dayton Daily News''. September 18, 1983 [http://www.daytonhistorybooks.com/building_the_bomb_in_oakw.html "Building the Bomb in Oakwood"].</ref> They urged Thomas to become co-director of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos with [[J. Robert Oppenheimer|Robert Oppenheimer]], but Thomas was reluctant to leave Dayton and Monsanto.<ref name="Building" /> He joined the NDRC, and Monsanto's Central Research Department began to conduct related research.<ref>Harvey V. Moyer, ed., [http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/4367751-nEJIbm/4367751.pdf Polonium. TID-5221], Atomic Energy Commission U.S.A., July 1956</ref>{{rp|vii}} To that end, Monsanto operated the [[Dayton Project]], and later [[Mound Laboratories]], and assisted in the development of the first [[nuclear weapons]].<ref name="Building" />