Pesticide giant Monsanto has taken another major legal blow in the recent verdict by a French appeals court, finding the company guilty of poisoning a farmer who has suffered massive neurological damage after inhaling one of their products. Global organic food advocates have rallied against Monsanto for years, crying out against the toxic chemicals they sell to farmers to spray on our global food supply. Only now is the seemingly unstoppable corporation facing an upswing legal ramifications.
According to The Guardian, the French farmer named Paul François “said he fell ill in 2004 after being exposed to Lasso, a weedkiller containing monochlorobenzene that was legal in France until 2007 but had already been banned in 1985 in Canada and in 1992 in Belgium and Britain.” The court immediately ordered Monsanto to pay $50,000 in legal fees for François, the remaining payout is still to be determined.
“A farmer is not a chemist”
Because the chemical was already outlawed in several countries, François argued that the company was already aware of the potential dangers of Lasso, and did not properly warn users of the dangers. The judge in the case ruled that proper warnings were not issued, and stated that “the plaintiff’s assumed technical knowledge does not excuse the lack of information on the product and its harmful effects – a farmer is not a chemist”.
This is not the first time Monsanto has lost in a court of law after being accused to knowingly covering up the dangers of their products sold to farmers. Earlier this year Monsanto was ordered to pay 80 million in damages to a California farmer who fell ill with cancer after exposure to Roundup, a weedkiller known by doctors and activists to be dangerous for human exposure.
The California case was the first in the US to be heard in a Federal court, and now there are over 9,000 such cases pending against the corporation. Despite these successful lawsuits against the company, its spokes people still claim the products do not cause cancer, and have challenged the World Health Organization’s classification of Glyphosate as a “probable carcinogen” in 2015.
These dangerous chemicals have been found in cereals and oat bars that are marketed to children! Two recent studies have indicated that cereals and oat products made with conventional or organic oats have trace amounts of the pesticide. This is a serious concerns for parents who think they are feeding their children wholesome foods. The products were found in brands like General Mill Cheerios and Quaker Oats. As always, the Homestead Guru recommends growing your own food, and recently the United Nations issued a report that say they agree.
Small farms are still the way of life in some parts of the world, check out this special report and on-location video by Catherine Bleish of the Homestead Guru about small farms in Italy!
