Is a Lawrence plant part of the white phosphorus production pipeline for weapons being used by IDF?

“ICL is a leading global specialty minerals company that creates impactful solutions for humanity’s sustainability challenges in the global food, agriculture, and industrial markets. Our facility in Lawrence, Kansas offers outstanding opportunities to be part of this mission. We care about our world, our community, our employees, and their families.”

Or at least, we hope.

ICL or Israel Chemicals Limited is a multinational manufacturing company with a plant in Lawrence. 

One of its products are phosphates.

As recently as October, Israeli forces have been documented as using white phosphorus munitions on the people of Gaza and Southern Lebanon, firing multiple rounds of artillery containing the substance onto the cities.

According to the WHO, “White (sometimes called yellow) phosphorus is a white to yellow waxy solid with a garlic-like odour. It ignites spontaneously in air at temperatures above 30 °C and continues to burn until it is fully oxidized or until deprived of oxygen. Burning phosphorus produces dense, white, irritating smoke containing mixed phosphorus oxides.

White phosphorus is used for military purposes in grenades and artillery shells to produce illumination, to generate a smokescreen, and as an incendiary. Its major industrial uses are in the production of phosphoric acid, phosphates, and other compounds. Phosphates are used to manufacture a range of products including fertilizers and detergents. Phosphorus has been used as a rodenticide and in fireworks.”

While not illegal, the use of WP is highly restricted, and the IDF has continued to operate outside of those regulations. Throughout the mid-October shelling, one specific attack on the town of Dhayra, which occurred on the 16th, was called to be investigated as a war crime because it was “an indiscriminate attack that injured at least nine civilians and damaged civilian objects, and was therefore unlawful,” according to Amnesty International.

The effects of WP are horrific and harmful with any type of exposure. Dermal exposure can result in burns of the skin that are both chemical and thermal in nature. Inhalation exposure can cause irritation of the upper respiratory tract and delayed-onset lung oedema. 

So where is Israel getting WP shells? As part of the billions of dollars of munitions provided by the United States. 

That the public is aware of, the only producer of American WP is Monsanto, a Missouri-based Agrochemical company that has been previously found guilty by the DoD of illegally using pesticides on Hawaiian corn fields, among other incidents. The details of the contract are vague, as the document is heavily redacted. However, according to the document, “The Government is aware of only one source, Monsanto, who manufactures WP in the US.” The manufactured WP is then sent to the Pine Bluff Arsenal, where it is weaponized into projectiles. 

As reported by The Washington Post, shrapnel recovered from the site of the Dhayra attacks is stamped with production codes consistent with United States munitions markings. One begins with PB-92, dating the production year to 1992 at Pine Bluff. The other has the marking, THS-89, tracing back to a 1989 production at a Louisiana-based plant operated by Thiokol Aerospace. 

Two of the spent shells used in the Oct. 16 attack. Both are U.S manufactured munitions. // Courtesy Washington Post

By U.S. law, the United States is obligated to track the use of its munitions by the allies receiving them. So how have they responded to these attacks? They haven’t really, and they won’t anytime soon. According to the Biden Administration, they have been unable to accurately track the activity of their munitions due to vagueness in communication between the two countries. In other words, they’re dancing around the truth in true American political fashion. 

So where does ICL come into play? One question may be where Monsanto gets the supplies necessary to manufacture WP. While the process from manufacturing to weaponization is known, the original source of the supplies is a bit trickier to discover. 

According to Perimeter Solutions in a fire safety report, Monsanto was bought out after 1997. “In 2000, Astaris LLC – a joint venture between Solutia and FMC – acquired the PHOS-CHEK business. In 2005, Astaris LLC was acquired by ICL and the PHOS-CHEK brand was assigned to ICL’s Performance Products division.”

But it goes further than that. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources lists data directly linking ICL to Monsanto, and the following can be read on their website. 

“ICL Performance Products currently produces phosphate products. The facility manufactures inorganic phosphates through the reaction of phosphoric acid and basic materials such as lime sodium carbonate, sodium hydroxide, and potassium hydroxide. In the past, the plant also manufactured phosphoric acid from elemental phosphorous to use as a raw material. The manufacture of phosphoric acid, which contains arsenic, was shut down at the end of 2007. The phosphoric acid is now shipped into the plant. Monsanto operated two hazardous waste storage units, one of which stored arsenic-contaminated materials, phosphorus, methyl ethyl ketone, and sodium hydrosulfide, under the “interim status” portions of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).”

So ICL isn’t supplying Monsanto, they are Monsanto. And while the listed data is for the plant in Missouri, the Lawrence plant manufactures many of the same products. So do we have a company knowingly producing chemicals for war crimes in our own backyard? 

We have reached out to ICL Lawrence who had no comment on the matter. We will update the story with any comment they choose to share.