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Its primary product is the world's top selling herbicide Roundup and seeds which are genetically engineered to tolerate Roundup and be bug-resistant. Monsanto seeds account for about 70% of the world's genetically engineered crop supply.
The original Monsanto was founded in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1901, by John Francis Queeny, a 30-year veteran of the pharmaceuticals industry. He funded his start-up with his own money and funding from a soft drink distributor, and named the company after his wife's maiden name.
Monsanto began by manufacturing saccharin, the first artificial sweetener, with its early output sold entirely to Coca-Cola. It also introduced caffeine and vanillin to the soft drink, to which it became a major supplier. In the 1920s, it began producing sulfuric acid and other basic industrial chemicals. In the 1940s, it became a leading manufacturer of plastics (eg: polystyrene) and synthetic fibers. It has been one of the top 10 US chemical companies since the 1940s. Major products have included Agent Orange, aspartame (NutraSweet), Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH), and PCBs.
Monsanto has and continues to be involved in a wide range of lawsuits, concerned largely with pollution. In 1917, the US government filed suit against Monsanto over the safety of saccharin. It recently lost a series of court decisions resulting in US$600 million in damages being awarded to thousands of residents of an Alabama town that had been systematically polluted by Monsanto's PCB byproducts.
In the last five years, through a process of mergers and spinoffs, the "new" Monsanto emerged. It claims to be a different company from the original, although its current excutive is almost entirely from the "old" Monsanto.
Its practices and products make Monsanto a primary target of the anti-globalization movement and environmental activists. It is negatively referred to by many of its most outspoken critics as Monsatan.