Bayer, which acquired Monsanto, likewise denies the risks of glyphosate After the verdict in the Johnson case was announced, Monsanto still insisted in a statement: "This verdict does not change the fact that more than 800 scientific studies indicate that glyphosate does not cause cancer, and Johnson's cancer was not caused by glyphosate. We will continue to appeal and defend this product, which has been safe for farmers and others for more than 40 years."
Germany's Bayer, which successfully acquired Monsanto for US$66 billion in June this year, has not yet had time to erase this notorious name, and its spokesperson, as if stuck on repeat, said: "Glyphosate is safe and does not cause cancer."
While the agrochemical giant completely washed its hands of responsibility, Johnson said in court: "I would not spray herbicides containing glyphosate on school grounds or near people if I knew it would harm them. This is unethical, and they should not be treated this way."
Monsanto has a long rap sheet, having once concealed the risks of PCBs for decades Johnson was so foolish and naive; in the dictionary of Monsanto, a company with a long rap sheet, there is no such word as "ethics," and the California jury accused this company headquartered in Missouri, USA, of deliberate wrongdoing, not an unintentional mistake.
As a repeat offender, Monsanto is no stranger to such accusations. The Washington Post pointed out that a 2002 ruling by a court in Alabama, USA, stated: "Monsanto was found guilty of malicious neglect, recklessness, concealment of facts, obstruction, and trespass," and must pay a total of US$700 million to nearly 4,000 residents of the small town of Anniston in Alabama.
Monsanto's lawless script was almost the same, except that the toxic chemical was switched from glyphosate to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
Nearly a hundred years ago, Monsanto came to Anniston in the 1920s to set up a plant, and then began producing PCBs used in electrical insulators, lubricants and coatings. Just as Johnson originally believed glyphosate was harmless, the residents of Anniston believed Monsanto's claims until 1996 and considered PCBs to be a safe product.
However, as early as 1966, Monsanto had already discovered that fish in Anniston's streams turned belly-up and died within just ten seconds of exposure to PCBs, with blood vessels bursting and skin peeling off as if scalded by boiling water. In 1969, it was further confirmed that the PCB content in the stream fish was 7,500 times the legal limit.
Unsurprisingly, nearby residents were kept in the dark. Monsanto's internal documents stated: "The cost of restricting wastewater discharge is too high." Even more, it could not lose its PCB cash cow, which generated US$22 million in revenue each year. "We cannot lose a single cent. We must continue to sell, generate profits, and protect the company's image."
According to a report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Monsanto discharged about 27 metric tons of PCBs in Anniston from 1929 to 1971, 810 metric tons flowed into the local Snow Creek, and 32,000 metric tons were dumped in the open.
The United States banned the production of PCBs in 1979, but on the other side of the Pacific, the poison could not be stopped in time. In the same year, due to a ruptured oil pipeline that caused a PCB leak, Taiwan, China, broke out in a rice bran oil poisoning incident, and the victims at the time and their descendants still cannot shake off the lingering poison to this day.
The day of reckoning; the United States, Brazil and the EU all want Monsanto to pay the price After Johnson, 4,000 Americans are waiting for their day in court, and in October they will strike at Monsanto's headquarters, launching the next glyphosate trial in Missouri. Brazil, which also grows large amounts of genetically modified crops, is likewise a heavy user of herbicides. Its federal court ruled in early August that glyphosate use must be suspended until the government issues a new safety report. European civil society groups also plan to sue the EU because last year's process for renewing glyphosate's 5-year approval was flawed.
From the discovery that stream fish died suddenly from PCBs to the Anniston residents winning their lawsuit, and from the launch of glyphosate herbicides to the verdict in the Johnson case, both cases took a long 40 years before tearing away Monsanto's mask of whitewashed calm and revealing the ferocious face of poison. "Monsanto must be held responsible. The day of reckoning has come," said Johnson's lawyer Brent Wisner.
Monsanto documents exposed! Taiwan, China, was also a target of its courtship
