SUPPORT OUR
SPONSORS

Organic Valley

Dr. Bronner's
Magic Soaps

Botani Organic

Aloha Bay

Eden Foods

Ode Magazine

Mountain
Rose Herbs

The Green Guide

Monsanto's Parent Company
Prepares to Dump Them

PHARMACIA SEEN SPINNING OFF MONSANTO
November 12, 2001
Reuters

NEW YORK - Analysts were cited as saying that Pharmacia Corp. will
likely spin off Monsanto Co. to shareholders next spring as the drug company
seeks to rid itself of its volatile agricultural business.

Pharmacia completed its acquisition of Monsanto in March last year. Its
aim was to gain access to Monsanto's drug unit, which developed the
blockbuster arthritis drug Celebrex. Under the transaction, however,
Pharmacia also acquired the agricultural business.

The story says that the requirement to hold on to Monsanto ends in March
2002, and analysts believe Pharmacia will waste no time in getting rid
of a business which develops genetically enhanced crops and whose main
product is Roundup herbicide. Pharmacia has already sold off 15 percent of
Monsanto.

Jami Rubin, an analyst at Morgan Stanley was quoted as saying, "We
expect that Pharmacia will sell or spin off the remaining 85 percent of
Monsanto that it owns. A significant portion of Pharmacia earnings
uncertainty comes from the ag business."

Pharmacia, which declined to comment on its plans for Monsanto, has
nonetheless made no bones about its lack of interest in the agricultural
business. In the third quarter the company said Monsanto shaved 3 cents
from its earnings per share.
----------------------------