Futures Forum: Brexit: and the Environment Secretary not upsetting farmers by not supporting the EU's ban on glyphosate (aka Roundup)
Futures Forum: Lobbying over the Roundup weedkiller >>> again >>> crunchtime: Tuesday 14th June
Futures Forum: Brexit: and Roundup
It appears that it's not good for human health either:
Monsanto ordered to pay $289m as jury rules weedkiller caused man's cancer | Business | The Guardian
Monsanto weedkiller case: Bayer shares tumble after payout - BBC News
The Monsanto Papers - US righttoknow
Roundup Chemical in Your Cereal: What to Know
The Nation magazine reports from the States:
Monsanto Just Lost a Case Linking Its Weed Killer to Cancer
A jury ruled that the corporation knew Roundup could cause harm, but failed to warn users.
By Rene EbersoleAUGUST 17, 2018
Monsanto’s Roundup weed and grass killer. (Sipa via AP Images)
For three years Dewayne “Lee” Johnson began his workday at 5 am, spraying herbicides on the edges of school parking lots and sports fields in advance of students’ arrival. Even after he was first diagnosed with cancer in August 2014, according to his testimony in court, Johnson kept on spraying. He’d been told that Roundup, the weed killer he used, was virtually harmless. In fact, the person who certified him as an integrated pest manager assured him that Roundup “is safe enough to drink.”
The landmark ruling in Johnson’s case is the latest development in a decades-long scientific debate about the safety of the herbicide, which is applied to crops, lawns, golf courses, and gardens around the world. Since Roundup was released in 1974, Americans have sprayed more than 1.8 million tons of its main ingredient, glyphosate; worldwide, the figure stands at 9.4 million tons. Glyphosate is now so ubiquitous in the environment that residue has been reported in many popular foods, from cherries to cereal.
Johnson’s attorneys say the verdict is a “game changer” that could lead to similar victories for other plaintiffs. “Monsanto has taken a very hard line that these cases lack merit, and that there’s absolutely no evidence that Roundup causes cancer,” said Johnson’s lawyer Brent Wisner, with the California firm Baum Hedlund Aristei Goldman. “Now they have a $289 million verdict that says otherwise, and not only that—that Monsanto acted with malice in its conduct.”
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In the course of the litigation, millions of pages of Monsanto corporate e-mails, memos, and scientific studies have been made public. Johnson’s attorneys drew upon many of those documents to make the case that at the same time his cancer was getting worse, the company was working behind the scenes to manipulate scientific research—ghostwriting articles, influencing regulatory agencies, and planning attacks on scientists’ credibility—to prevent official rulings declaring glyphosate carcinogenic.
“During the time Johnson was spraying, his cancer went from relatively controllable to a death sentence,” Wisner told The Nation. “All they had to do was just pick up the phone and call him.”
Jurors were not required to determine whether Roundup causes cancer. The question was whether it produces harm, and if Monsanto knew about that and yet failed to warn consumers. The jury was charged with answering several key questions, including: Was Ranger Pro a substantial factor in causing harm to Mr. Johnson? Did Ranger Pro have potential risks that were known or knowable in light of the scientific knowledge that was generally accepted in the scientific community at the time of its manufacture, distribution, or sale? Did Monsanto fail to warn of the potential risks? Was the lack of sufficient warnings a substantial factor in causing harm to Mr. Johnson?
The next state trial is scheduled to begin in late October in Saint Louis, and a handful of others will likely be tried during the next year, Wisner said. The date for the first plaintiff case in the federal trial has not yet been set.
By the time the next trial begins, Monsanto will no longer exist—at least by name. When German drug maker Bayer finalized its more than $60 billion acquisition of Monsanto in June, the company announced that it plans to retire the 117-year-old Monsanto brand. That step will eliminate the corporate symbol that for decades has been a lightning rod for environmental activists lobbying for better regulation of chemical pesticides. But very little else will change. Bayer will still sell the chemicals and engineered seeds that Monsanto made ubiquitous—and be left to pay what could amount to billions in legal settlements if future plaintiffs triumph.
Monsanto Just Lost a Case Linking Its Weed Killer to Cancer | The Nation
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In the course of the litigation, millions of pages of Monsanto corporate e-mails, memos, and scientific studies have been made public. Johnson’s attorneys drew upon many of those documents to make the case that at the same time his cancer was getting worse, the company was working behind the scenes to manipulate scientific research—ghostwriting articles, influencing regulatory agencies, and planning attacks on scientists’ credibility—to prevent official rulings declaring glyphosate carcinogenic.
“During the time Johnson was spraying, his cancer went from relatively controllable to a death sentence,” Wisner told The Nation. “All they had to do was just pick up the phone and call him.”
Jurors were not required to determine whether Roundup causes cancer. The question was whether it produces harm, and if Monsanto knew about that and yet failed to warn consumers. The jury was charged with answering several key questions, including: Was Ranger Pro a substantial factor in causing harm to Mr. Johnson? Did Ranger Pro have potential risks that were known or knowable in light of the scientific knowledge that was generally accepted in the scientific community at the time of its manufacture, distribution, or sale? Did Monsanto fail to warn of the potential risks? Was the lack of sufficient warnings a substantial factor in causing harm to Mr. Johnson?
The next state trial is scheduled to begin in late October in Saint Louis, and a handful of others will likely be tried during the next year, Wisner said. The date for the first plaintiff case in the federal trial has not yet been set.
By the time the next trial begins, Monsanto will no longer exist—at least by name. When German drug maker Bayer finalized its more than $60 billion acquisition of Monsanto in June, the company announced that it plans to retire the 117-year-old Monsanto brand. That step will eliminate the corporate symbol that for decades has been a lightning rod for environmental activists lobbying for better regulation of chemical pesticides. But very little else will change. Bayer will still sell the chemicals and engineered seeds that Monsanto made ubiquitous—and be left to pay what could amount to billions in legal settlements if future plaintiffs triumph.
Monsanto Just Lost a Case Linking Its Weed Killer to Cancer | The Nation
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