The world according to Monsanto : pollution, corruption, and

54 the world according to monsantomatter to court and, with the help of the National Whistleblower Center, anorganization based in Washington, D.C., that supports whistle-blowers andhelps protect their careers, succeeded in having the offending regulationoverturned and establishing a precedent affirming the right of whistleblowersto denounce employers who are obviously violating the law. 17This EPA “sentinel,” who had been serving as a policy analyst for severalyears, decided in July 1994 to draw up a report on the affair of Cate Jenkinsand dioxin, entitled The Monsanto Investigation. 18 In it he provided an“analysis of the failure of EPA to investigate allegations that the MonsantoCompany had falsified scientific studies on the carcinogenicity of dioxin.”“I sifted through the whole file,” he explained. “Here it is.” He took out ofa trunk a stack of documents at least twenty inches thick, secured in thecourse of various proceedings against Monsanto (such as Kemner v. Monsanto)or the EPA (such as Jenkins’s complaint to the Department of Labor).Spread before me were hundreds of documents, including, according toSanjour, many internal memoranda from Monsanto showing how the companyconcealed the toxicity of one of the most dangerous products ever inflictedon the planet, not stopping at trying to crush the woman who daredto reveal the scandal.The EPA Obeys Orders“Here’s the proof that the EPA was infiltrated by Monsanto,” Sanjour toldme, handing me a five-page letter from James H. Senger, vice president ofMonsanto, to Raymond C. Loehr, who chaired the Executive Committee ofthe agency’s Science Advisory Board. “It’s dated March 9, 1990, just twoweeks after Cate sent her confidential memo to the committee. How hadthe company found out about it?”“Monsanto has learned of the EPA’s receipt of highly inflammatory and inaccurateinformation pertaining to epidemiology studies involving Monsanto’sNitro, West Virginia plant,” the executive wrote. “The allegations offraud are not credible. ...We are very disturbed by the false charges beingmade against Monsanto and Dr. Suskind.” Less than three weeks later, theCEO of Monsanto, Richard J. Mahoney, penned a letter to William Reilly,the EPA administrator, attaching an article from the Charleston Gazette. 19“Unfortunately, that internal EPA memorandum has now found its way to