Monsanto’s secret strategies to market it’s weedkiller glyphosate despite knowledge of its serious health and environmental effects have now been exposed in this first case to come before US courts. The strategies mirror those of other neoliberal corporates (CSG, tobacco, asbestos etc), capturing regulators and academics alike to bury the truth.
Carey Gillam writes in a recent Guardian article “In a stunning blow to one of the world’s largest seed and chemical companies, jurors in San Francisco have told Monsanto it must pay $289m in damages to a man dying of cancer which he claims was caused by exposure to its herbicides…….The jury’s verdict found not only that Monsanto’s Roundup and related glyphosate-based brands presented a substantial danger to people using them, but that there was “clear and convincing evidence” that Monsanto’s officials acted with “malice or oppression” in failing to adequately warn of the risks.”
Carey adds “The ramifications, however, are much broader and have global implications. Another trial is set to take place in October in St Louis and roughly 4,000 plaintiffs have claims pending with the potential outcomes resulting in many more hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars in damage awards. They all allege not only that their cancers were caused by exposure to Monsanto’s herbicides, but that Monsanto has long known about, and covered up, the dangers. The team of plaintiffs’ attorneys leading the litigation say they so far have brought to light only a fraction of evidence collected from Monsanto’s internal files and plan to reveal much more in future trials.”
There is a terrific blog by Glyphosate Girl covering the court case day-by-day here.
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