Monsanto legal cases of Monsanto but rather bio-piracy, because the virus-resistant plants originated in India and were registered in international seed banks; they further claimed that conventional breeding methods were used to transfer the virus resistance genes from an Indian melon to other melons and that European law prohibits patents on conventional breeding. The European Patent Office created a page on its website to explain the case. Monsanto presently operates as an agricultural company, but it was founded in 1901 as a chemical company. In 1997 Monsanto split the chemical sector of its business into an independent company, Solutia Inc. In 2008 Monsanto
Monsanto of 2004 about 150,000 small farmers had left the countryside; including 50% as of 2009 in the Chaco region. "The Guardian" reported that a Monsanto representative had said, "any problems with GM soya were to do with use of the crop as a monoculture, not because it was GM. If you grow any crop to the exclusion of any other you are bound to get problems." In 2005 and 2006, Monsanto attempted to enforce its patents on soymeal imported into Spain from Argentina by having Spanish customs officials seize the soymeal shipments. This has been an attempt made by Monsanto