Month: June 2020

Challenge eyed to class action plan for Bayer Roundup settlement

Print Email Share Tweet LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Telegram

A plan to delay any new Roundup cancer claims for years and shift the key question of whether or not the weed killer causes cancer from a jury to a hand-picked panel of scientists faces potential opposition from some of the plaintiffs’ attorneys who initiated and led the mass tort claims against Roundup maker Monsanto, Challenge eyed to class action plan for Bayer Roundup settlement

Bayer settles U.S. Roundup, dicamba and PCB litigation for more than $10 billion

Print Email Share Tweet LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Telegram

In an expensive clean-up of Monsanto litigation messes, Bayer AG said Wednesday that it will pay out more than $10 billion to settle tens of thousands of U.S. claims brought against Monsanto over its Roundup herbicide, as well as $400 million to resolve lawsuits over Monsanto’s dicamba herbicide and $650 million for PCB pollution claims. Bayer settles U.S. Roundup, dicamba and PCB litigation for more than $10 billion

Roundup cancer attorney pleads guilty to extortion attempt

Print Email Share Tweet LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Telegram

A Virginia lawyer who helped represent the first Roundup cancer plaintiff to take Monsanto to trial pleaded guilty on Friday to trying to extort $200 million from a chemical compound supplier to Monsanto. Timothy Litzenburg, 38, admitted to a scheme in which he and another lawyer threatened to inflict substantial “financial and reputational harm” on Roundup cancer attorney pleads guilty to extortion attempt

Big Ag groups argue court cannot tell EPA when to ban dicamba

Print Email Share Tweet LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Telegram

The heaviest of Big Ag’s heavy hitters told a federal court it should not try to stop GMO cotton and soybean farmers from using illegal dicamba weed killers through the end of July, despite the court’s order earlier this month for an immediate ban. Six national trade associations, all of which have long-standing financial ties Big Ag groups argue court cannot tell EPA when to ban dicamba

Panicked chemical giants seek leeway in court ban on their weed killers

Print Email Share Tweet LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Telegram

Citing an “emergency,” chemical giants BASF and DuPont have asked a federal court to allow them to intervene in a case in which the court earlier this month ordered their dicamba herbicides to be immediately banned along with a dicamba product made by Monsanto owner Bayer AG. The action by the chemical companies follows a Panicked chemical giants seek leeway in court ban on their weed killers

Roundup cancer plaintiffs eagerly await settlement news

Print Email Share Tweet LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Telegram

Thousands of cancer patients and their families around the United States were notified this week that a comprehensive settlement of their claims against the former Monsanto Co. should be announced before the end of the month. Though specific settlement amounts for specific plaintiffs are still to be determined, groups of plaintiffs have been told to Roundup cancer plaintiffs eagerly await settlement news

Corporate influence at the University of Saskatchewan: Professor Peter Phillips and his secret ‘right to know symposium’

Print Email Share Tweet LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Telegram
A redacted document

Tens of thousands of pages of internal documents obtained by U.S. Right to Know via public records requests reveal the close – and often secret – ties between Monsanto, its PR groups, and a group of professors who promote GMOs and pesticides. In one example, the investigation turned up details about Monsanto’s work with Peter Corporate influence at the University of Saskatchewan: Professor Peter Phillips and his secret ‘right to know symposium’

EPA thumbs nose at court order, says farmers can still use illegal dicamba herbicides

Print Email Share Tweet LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Telegram

(UPDATES with comment from BASF) The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday declared it would not immediately honor a court ruling handed down last week that banned certain herbicides made by three of the world’s largest chemical companies. The move by the EPA amounts to a generous gift to BASF, Bayer and Corteva Agrisciences whose dicamba EPA thumbs nose at court order, says farmers can still use illegal dicamba herbicides

UPDATED – Court overturns EPA approval of Bayer dicamba herbicide; says regulator “understated the risks”

Print Email Share Tweet LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Telegram

(UPDATES with statement from BASF) In a stunning rebuke of the Environmental Protection Agency, a federal court on Wednesday overturned the agency’s approval of popular dicamba-based herbicides made by chemical giants Bayer, BASF and Corteva Agrisciences. The ruling effectively makes it illegal for farmers to continue to use the product. The ruling by the U.S. UPDATED – Court overturns EPA approval of Bayer dicamba herbicide; says regulator “understated the risks”

Appeals court hears arguments over Monsanto’s first Roundup trial loss

Print Email Share Tweet LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Telegram

A California jury decision blaming a Monsanto herbicide for a school groundskeeper’s cancer was deeply flawed and incompatible with the law, a Monsanto attorney told a panel of appellate judges on Tuesday. The company’s glyphosate-based herbicides – popularly known as Roundup – have the full backing of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and “regulators around Appeals court hears arguments over Monsanto’s first Roundup trial loss

Dicamba: Farmers fear another season of crop damage; court ruling awaited

Print Email Share Tweet LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Telegram

With the turn of the calendar to June, farmers in the U.S. Midwest are wrapping up the planting of new soybean crops and tending to growing fields of young corn plants and vegetable plots. But many are also bracing to be hit by an invisible enemy that has wreaked havoc in farm country the last Dicamba: Farmers fear another season of crop damage; court ruling awaited

Stuart Smyth: agrichemical industry ties and funding

Print Email Share Tweet LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Telegram

Stuart Smyth, PhD, promotes and defends genetically engineered foods and pesticides as an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Saskatchewan. Since 2014, he has held the Industry Funded Research Chair in Agri-Food Innovation. Industry funding Funders (described as “investing partners”) of Smyth’s research chair position include Bayer Stuart Smyth: agrichemical industry ties and funding