It took the public a few years to catch up with Monsanto's vision--and they didn't like what they saw
The Globe and Mail 31mar00

Five years ago, Monsanto Co. turned itself into a "life sciences" company dedicated to creating Space Age medicines and food crops. It took the public a few years to catch up with Monsanto's vision--and they didn't like what they saw. European supermarkets banned genetically modified foods. Nation after nation piled restrictions on them. Last December, Monsanto merged with Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc. and said it would spin off part of its agribusiness.

The market is going to want sustainable systems, and if Monsanto provides them, we will do quite well for our shareholders. -- Monsanto CEO Robert Shapiro , 1995

The most successful launch of any technology ever, including the plow. -- Shapiro, 1998

We're pretty optimistic that, given good labelling and good consumer knowledge, this whole thing will settle down. -- Monsanto spokesman Brian Arnst, on the public backlash, September, 1999

We believe in choice. -- Tony Combes, Monsanto's director of corporate affairs in Britain, on why GM food was banned from its head office cafeteria after employee complaints, December, 1999

We saw our products as great boons both to farmers and to the environment. I guess we naively thought that the rest of the world would...come to the same conclusion. -- Shapiro after the merger announcement, December, 1999