The world according to Monsanto : pollution, corruption, and

56 the world according to monsantomunity thanks to a damaged system that affects all areas of research, includingbiotechnology.Meanwhile, at the EPA Cate Jenkins’s memo became a hot potato that noone knew how to get rid of. Curiously, the agency’s advisory board, whichhad used the Monsanto studies to recommend that dioxin be classified incategory B2 in 1988, acknowledged its incompetence to conduct the scientificaudit Jenkins had asked for, and turned the issue over to another agency,NIOSH. At the same time, no doubt to put on a good face for the media,the head of the agency asked the Office of Criminal Enforcement (OCE),its criminal investigation division, to assess the validity of the accusationsof fraud.“That was the best way to bury the matter,” complained Sanjour, “becausewho was going to risk making a judgment about fraud if no one had first carriedout the scientific audit that Cate had asked for?” On August 20, 1990,the criminal investigation was officially opened, and two detectives, JohnWest and Kevin Guarino, were specially appointed from Denver. They weresupposed to verify the “alleged violations of the federal environmental lawsby the Monsanto Chemical Company, its offices and employees,” who mayhave infringed on the Toxic Substances Control Act, which required thatcompanies inform the EPA of the toxicity of their products, and who mightbe guilty of “conspiracy to defraud EPA” and of “false statements.” 20“The investigation never happened,” Sanjour told me. “No one ever establishedwhether Monsanto had committed fraud; the only investigation wasof Cate Jenkins, the whistle-blower, who was mistreated, harassed, and hadher life turned into a living hell.” In the file Sanjour had given me, I was ableto consult the monthly activity reports prepared by the agency’s two detectives.Most of them were simply otherwise blank pages with the notation“There was no significant investigative activity to report this month.” A short“interview report” dated November 14, 1990, states that the two KeystoneKops had met Jenkins in her office. The next day, obviously concerned bytheir lack of curiosity, she sent out a second detailed report supporting herarguments on “Monsanto’s fraud,” specifying on the last page that she hadsent copies to sixteen organizations and individuals, including Greenpeace,Admiral Zumwalt, and the National Vietnam Veterans Coalition (NVVC),which encompassed sixty-two veterans organizations.Three days later, the unrepentant whistle-blower was invited to an NVVCceremony where she received the association’s medal honoring her courage