THAT’S HOW YOU KNOW IT’S WORKING

Submitted by Hardscrabble Farmer

Most people assume that Roundup is used exclusively for weed control. They do not realize that it has a secondary purpose in desiccating feed crops like soybeans, wheat, and corn in the days preceding harvest. This means, a priori, that the grains most commonly used in processed foods are not carrying trace amounts of glyphosate used during the emergent phase, but a fresh application only days before it is turned into bread, cereal, snacks, etc.

Via The Guardian

‘Disturbing’: weedkiller ingredient tied to cancer found in 80% of US urine samples

CDC study finds glyphosate, controversial ingredient found in weedkillers including popular Roundup brand, present in samples

The CDC has only recently started examining the extent of human exposure to glyphosate in the US.

More than 80% of urine samples drawn from children and adults in a US health study contained a weedkilling chemical linked to cancer, a finding scientists have called “disturbing” and “concerning”.

The report by a unit of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that out of 2,310 urine samples, taken from a group of Americans intended to be representative of the US population, 1,885 were laced with detectable traces of glyphosate. This is the active ingredient in herbicides sold around the world, including the widely used Roundup brand. Almost a third of the participants were children ranging from six to 18.

Continue reading “THAT’S HOW YOU KNOW IT’S WORKING”

From Rachel Carson to Monsanto: The Silence of Spring

Guest Post by Colin Todhunter

Former Monsanto Chairman and CEO Hugh Grant is currently in the news. He is trying to avoid appearing in court to be questioned by lawyers on behalf of a cancer patient in the case of Allan Shelton v Monsanto.

Shelton has non-Hodgkin lymphoma and is one of the 100,000-plus people in the US claiming in lawsuits that exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer and its other brands containing the chemical glyphosate caused their cancer.

According to investigative journalist Carey Gillam, Shelton’s lawyers have argued that Grant was an active participant and decision maker in the company’s Roundup business and should be made to testify at the trial.

But Grant says in the court filings that the effort to put him on the stand in front of a jury is “wholly unnecessary and serves only to harass and burden” him.

His lawyers state that Grant does not have “any expertise in the studies and tests that have been done related to Roundup generally, including those related to Roundup safety”.

Gillam notes that the court filings state that Grant’s testimony “would be of little value” because he is not a toxicologist, an epidemiologist, or a regulatory expert and “did not work in the areas of toxicology or epidemiology while employed by Monsanto”.

Continue reading “From Rachel Carson to Monsanto: The Silence of Spring”

The Truth Will Out

Submitted by Hardscrabble Farmer

2 billion, with a ‘B’. When I read the headline the other day I didn’t actually believe it and by the time the lawyers get done with the appeals process both of the award winners will be pining for the fjords, but the fact remains and the connection has been made. Glyphosate is the root cause of numerous human health issues because it remains in the foods that are processed and eaten by large swaths of the American public. I absolutely believe that eventually the modern obesity crisis will be linked with glyphosate toxicity in the human body. Not such good news for those affected who haven’t won an enormous court ordered verdict, but confirmation to those who could easily see that a product used to eradicate life isn’t such a good thing to eat.

Via The Guardian

Monsanto must pay couple $2bn in largest verdict yet over cancer claims

California jury holds makers of Roundup weedkiller responsible for couple contracting non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

A jury found the weedkiller Roundup had been defectively designed and its makers acted negligently.

A California jury has ordered Monsanto to pay more than $2bn to a couple that got cancer after using its weedkiller, marking the third and largest verdict against the company over Roundup.

A jury in Oakland ruled Monday that Monsanto, now owned by the German pharmaceutical corporation Bayer, was liable for the non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) cancer of Alva and Alberta Pilliod. The jury ordered the company to pay $1bn in damages to each of them, and more than $55m total in compensatory damages.

Continue reading “The Truth Will Out”