A senior scientist at the former Monsanto Co. on Tuesday told jurors in a California trial that regulators around the world support the company’s position that its glyphosate-based herbicides, such as the popular Roundup brand, are safe for users. Donna Farmer, who worked as a toxicologist at Monsanto for more than two decades and now … Monsanto scientist tells jurors company’s side of Roundup cancer controversy
Chemicals from plastics to pesticides may worsen the body’s stress response in ways that cause excessive weight gain, according to what researchers say is the first systematic review to investigate the link between pollution, stress, and obesity.
Glyphosate, a synthetic herbicide best known as the active ingredient in Roundup®, has significantly harmed the health of babies in rural U.S. communities over the last two decades—especially those already at risk of poor birth outcomes, new research shows.
Carey Gillam’s “Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer and the Corruption of Science (Island Press) has received rave reviews since its release last fall and has received several awards for outstanding reporting: Winner, 2018 Rachel Carson Book Award from the Society of Environmental Journalists 2018 Gold Medal winner, Outstanding Book of the Year, … Rachel Carson Environment Book Award Winner: Whitewash by Carey Gillam
By Stacy Malkan The world’s largest pesticide and seed companies want you to believe they are on the side of science. High-tech foods are the future, they say, and people who raise concerns about their pesticides and genetically engineered seeds are “anti-science.” The Atlantic magazine will provide a platform to those industry talking points in … Transforming the Food We Eat With DowDuPont
USRTK Research Director Carey Gillam’s new book is out now and garnering glowing reviews. Here is a brief description of the book from publisher Island Press: Lee Johnson was a man with simple dreams. All he wanted was a steady job and a nice home for his wife and children, something better than the hard … The Monsanto Papers – Deadly Secrets, Corporate Corruption, and One Man’s Search for Justice
A new study published Tuesday found that after switching to an organic diet for just a few days, people could cut the levels of a pesticide linked to cancer found in their urine by more than 70 percent. The researchers collected a total of 158 urine samples from four families –seven adults and nine children … U.S. study shows switch to organic diet can quickly clear pesticide from our bodies
As researchers we often look to documents to shed new light on issues important to food policy. Sometimes, they simply reflect what we already know. That’s the case with one new communication string that adds to evidence of a far-reaching strategy by food industry players to discredit and diminish the world’s leading cancer research agency. … Email of intrigue: “IARC is killing us!”
As summer turns to fall, the Maine landscape is beautiful to behold. Lush forests stretch as far as the eye can see in a tapestry of green, yellow and crimson-colored leaves. Every few miles along a narrow roadway, restored wooden barns adjoin modest homes set on tidy acres where farm families coax food from the … A Message from Maine: It’s Time to Get Serious About Sustainability
The mysterious delay of what was supposed to be a closely watched St. Louis showdown over claims that Monsanto’s Roundup herbicides cause cancer has stirred speculation that a settlement may be in the offing and heartened investors in Monsanto’s German owner Bayer, who feared a fourth trial loss. The trial in St. Louis, Monsanto’s former … Speculation Over Settlement as Roundup Cancer Trial Postponed
The legal drama surrounding the mass tort Roundup cancer litigation just got ratcheted up a notch. Federal criminal charges were filed this week against attorney Timothy Litzenburg alleging the 37-year-old lawyer demanded $200 million in “consulting fees” in exchange for keeping quiet about information that he threatened would be potentially devastating to a chemical compound … Attorney for Roundup Cancer Plaintiffs Arrested on Criminal Charges
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
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded another $10 million last week to the controversial Cornell Alliance for Science, a communications campaign housed at Cornell that trains fellows in Africa and elsewhere to promote and defend genetically engineered foods, crops and related pesticides. The new grant brings BMGF grants to the group to $22 million. … Gates Foundation doubles down on misinformation campaign at Cornell as African leaders call for agroecology
Monsanto and Bayer’s PR helpers are an industry unto themselves.
Dicamba(3, 6-dichloro-2-methoxybenzoic acid) is a broad-spectrum herbicide first registered in 1967. The herbicide is used on agricultural crops, fallow land, pastures, turfgrass and rangeland. Dicamba is also registered for non-agricultural uses in residential areas and other sites, such as golf courses where it is primarily used to control broadleaf weeds such as dandelions, chickweed, clover … Dicamba: Concerns about health risks and crop damage
Research from Tufts GDAE finds the billion-dollar Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa is not living up to its promises A longer version of this article ran in The Ecologist By Stacy Malkan Massive investments spent promoting and subsidizing commercial seeds and agrichemicals across Africa have failed to fulfill their purpose of alleviating hunger … Report documents Gates Foundation’s ‘failing’ Green Revolution for Africa
By Carey Gillam The U.S. Department of Agriculture has quietly dropped a plan to start testing food for residues of glyphosate, the world’s most widely used weed killer and the key ingredient in Monsanto Co.’s branded Roundup herbicides. The agency spent the last year coordinating with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Food and … USDA Drops Plan to Test for Monsanto Weed Killer in Food
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has gone where the U.S. government dares not tread – testing thousands of foods commonly consumed by its citizens for residues of a controversial herbicide linked to cancer. And the findings are less than appetizing. The agency said it found the pesticide known as glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto … Canadians Report Weed Killer Detected in 30 Percent of Food Tested
In a well-orchestrated and highly coordinated media coup, Monsanto Co. and friends this week dropped a bombshell on opponents who are seeking to prove that the company’s beloved Roundup herbicide causes cancer. A widely circulated story published June 14 in the global news outlet Reuters (for which I formerly worked) laid out what appeared to … Monsanto Spin Doctors Target Cancer Scientist In Flawed Reuters Story
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has resumed its first-ever endeavor to evaluate how much of a controversial chemical is making its way into the U.S. food supply. And the tests can’t come soon enough as safety concerns about the herbicide known as glyphosate grow. The FDA, the nation’s chief food safety regulator, launched what … FDA Resumes Testing Foods For Weed Killer, Safety Questions Grow
Newly released government email communications show a persistent effort by multiple officials within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to slow a separate federal agency’s safety review of Monsanto’s top-selling herbicide. Notably, the records demonstrate that the EPA efforts came at the behest of Monsanto, and that EPA officials were helpful enough to keep the chemical … Collusion or Coincidence? Records Show EPA Efforts to Slow Herbicide Review Came in Coordination with Monsanto
GMO Answers is billed as a forum where consumers can get straight answers from independent experts about genetically engineered foods (GMOs) and pesticides. Some journalists have taken it seriously as an unbiased source. But the evidence shows that GMO Answer is an industry funded marketing tool to spin GMOs in a positive light. Documents described … GMO Answers is a marketing campaign funded by pesticide companies
Excerpt from Merchants of Poison report examines the rise of glyphosate and GMOs, and what’s at stake for health, climate and biodiversity.
Kevin Folta, Ph.D., a professor in the Horticulture Sciences Department at University of Florida, has provided inaccurate information and engaged in misleading activities in his efforts to promote genetically engineered foods and pesticides. He is a senior contributing columnist to the Genetic Literacy Project, a chemical industry promotion group that receives funding from Bayer. He … The misleading ways of Dr. Kevin Folta
On January 10, 2021 The Guardian published this story about a small rural Nebraska community that has been struggling for at least two years with contamination tied to neonicotinoid-coated corn seed. The source is an area ethanol plant that has been marketing itself as a free “recycling” location for seed companies such as Bayer, Syngenta … Neonicotinoids: a growing concern
A trial set to start next week over claims that Monsanto’s Roundup weed killers cause cancer has been postponed until at least next year, according to a judge’s ruling on Friday. The trial would have been the first of its kind to take place in the St. Louis area, Monsanto’s hometown before the company sold … Another St. Louis Roundup Cancer Trial Officially Postponed Until 2020
Based on internal corporate documents, the Merchants of Poison report offers a rare look inside the science denial and disinformation tactics Monsanto used to defend its profits from glyphosate, an herbicide linked to cancer. In this webinar, report author Stacy Malkan of U.S. Right to Know shares five core tactics the company and other pesticide … Merchants of Poison webinar: The high stakes of pesticide industry disinformation
As Bayer AG seeks to discount concerns that Monsanto’s glyphosate-based herbicides cause cancer, several new studies are raising questions about the chemical’s potential impact on reproductive health. An assortment of animal studies released this summer indicate that glyphosate exposures impact reproductive organs and could threaten fertility, adding fresh evidence that the weed killing agent might … New weed killer studies raise concern for reproductive health
A new animal study by a group of European researchers has found that low levels of the weed killing chemical glyphosate and the glyphosate-based Roundup product can alter the composition of the gut microbiome in ways that may be linked to adverse health outcomes. The paper, published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, is … New study finds glyphosate-related alterations in gut microbiome
A federal judge appointed to coordinate proceedings for claims that Syngenta AG’s paraquat weed killers cause Parkinson’s disease said Wednesday she was setting a jury trial date for Nov. 15, 2022. U.S. Judge Nancy Rosenstengel of the Southern District of Illinois issued the order in an initial hearing with lawyers from multiple firms who are … U.S. judge sets trial in litigation against Syngenta alleging weed killer causes Parkinson’s disease
Lawyers involved in U.S. litigation accusing Syngenta AG of spending decades selling an herbicide that causes Parkinson’s disease are moving toward selection of a bellwether trial to be held roughly a year from now, according to the federal judge overseeing the litigation. In a hearing on Friday, U.S. District Judge Nancy Rosenstengel of the Southern … Litigation alleging Syngenta’s paraquat weed killer causes Parkinson’s disease moving toward trial
Lawyers suing Swiss chemical company Syngenta are asking a U.S. judicial panel to consolidate more than a dozen similar lawsuits under the oversight of a federal judge in California. The move is a telling sign of the expansion of litigation that alleges the company’s weed killing products cause Parkinson’s Disease. According to the motion, filed … Move to consolidate U.S. paraquat litigation as cases mount against Syngenta
Six more lawsuits alleging Syngenta’s weed killing pesticide paraquat causes Parkinson’s Disease were filed last week in Pennsylvania, California and Illinois, adding to more than a dozen similar lawsuits already filed in U.S. courts. The lawsuits all allege that exposure to paraquat, which is banned in more than 30 countries though not in the … Paraquat litigation grows, first trial set for May 10
A highly anticipated first-ever trial pitting a group of farmers against the global agricultural giant Syngenta AG over allegations that Syngenta’s paraquat weed killer causes Parkinson’s disease has been delayed until June, the parties involved said on Saturday. The trial was set to begin Monday, livestreamed by Courtroom View Network, but a continuance was ordered … Trial pitting farmers against Syngenta delayed until June
(UPDATED May 18 with pretrial order) As Bayer AG works to put an end to costly litigation over alleged connections between Roundup herbicide and cancer, the company faces a critical hearing on Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco. At issue in the hearing is a proposed $2 billion class action settlement structured by Bayer … Key court hearing Wednesday in Bayer cancer liability litigation
A highly anticipated first-ever trial pitting a group of farmers against the global agricultural giant Syngenta AG over allegations that Syngenta’s paraquat weed killer causes Parkinson’s disease has been delayed again and may not take place at all, according to sources close to the case. The trial in the case of Hoffman V. Syngenta was … Another delay for trial set to examine allegation that Syngenta weed killer causes Parkinson’s
A U.S. judicial panel has ordered the pretrial consolidation of dozens of lawsuits against Syngenta and Chevron over allegations that paraquat weed killer, which has been used widely around the world for more than 50 years, causes Parkinson’s disease. The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation said that “to date, 77 actions and potential tag-along … Consolidation approved for lawsuits against Syngenta and Chevron over herbicide
See Carey Gillam’s article in The Guardian, Corporate studies asserting herbicide safety show many flaws, new analysis finds (July 2, 2021). In this post we provide links to the 53 once-secret studies and related materials. Questions about the safety of glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs) have persisted for years, as scientific research has split over whether or … New analysis of glyphosate industry studies finds them outdated, flawed
Syngenta AG is facing a growing number of U.S. lawsuits over allegations that its paraquat herbicide causes Parkinson’s disease, with a Fresno, California man pushing for an expedited trial that potentially would start within the next few months, and multiple plaintiffs’ lawyers jockeying for power and influence over future trial proceedings. Plaintiff George Isaak used … Litigation against Syngenta grows; lawyers fight over evidence and trial dates
Multiple lawsuits are pending in the United States against Syngenta alleging the weedkilling chemical paraquat causes Parkinson’s disease. A notice of settlement was filed June 18, 2021 for several paraquat cases. See this document. But more than 400 lawsuits are pending. The lawsuits name Syngenta as well as Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. and Growmark Inc. … Paraquat Papers – Updates to U.S. litigation
ACalifornia appeals court should reject efforts by Monsanto to overturn a jury verdict awarding millions of dollars to a school groundskeeper and approve $250 million in punitive damages the jury ordered a year ago this month in the first Roundup cancer trial, according to a brief in the case filed Monday. The brief filed by … “Serious, Deadly Injury” Cited in New Appeals Court Filing Over Roundup Cancer Claims
After several months out of the headlines, lawyers for both sides of the nationwide Roundup cancer litigation are gearing up for overlapping trials in the new year as several more cancer patients seek to blame Monsanto for their diseases. Six trials are currently set to take place starting in January, with one in February, two … Six Monsanto Roundup Cancer Trials Set for January
A year ago Thailand was set to ban the widely used weed killing chemical glyphosate, a move applauded by public health advocates because of evidence the chemical causes cancer, along with other harms to people and the environment. But under heavy pressure from U.S. officials, Thailand’s government reversed the planned ban on glyphosate last November … Thailand’s reversal on glyphosate ban came after Bayer scripted U.S. intervention, documents show
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is quietly starting to test certain foods for residues of a weed killing chemical linked to cancer, has found the residues in a variety of oat products, including plain and flavored oat cereals for babies. Data compiled by an FDA chemist and presented to other chemists at a … FDA Tests Confirm Oatmeal, Baby Foods Contain Residues of Monsanto Weed Killer
Monsanto Shareholders Meeting Draws Fire An array of GMO and pesticide critics spoke out at Monsanto Co.’s annual meeting of shareholders on Friday, Jan. 29 in the company’s hometown of Creve Coeur, Missouri, calling on the company to address concerns about the company’s genetically engineered crop products and the glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide used on those … Big Week for Big Ag Players Monsanto and Dow
By Carey Gillam As the active ingredient in Monsanto’s branded Roundup weed killer, along with hundreds of other weed-killing products, the chemical called glyphosate spells billions of dollars in sales for Monsanto and other companies each year as farmers around the world use it in their fields and orchards. Ubiquitous in food production, glyphosate is … Not Just For Corn and Soy: A Look at Glyphosate Use in Food Crops
By Carey Gillam They’re calling it a glyphosate “revolution.” Consumers around the world are waking up to the fact that they’re living in a world awash in the weed-killing pesticide known as glyphosate. And they don’t like it one bit. Over the last several years, some scientists have been warning that the long-touted environmental and … Glyphosate ‘Revolution’ Growing — Consumers Want Answers
As Americans gather their families to share a Thanksgiving meal this week, new government data offers a potentially unappetizing assessment of the U.S. food supply: Residues of many types of insecticides, fungicides and weed killing chemicals have been found in roughly 85 percent of thousands of foods tested. Data released last week by the U.S. … New Data on Pesticides in Food Raises Safety Questions
Call it the case of the mysterious mouse tumor. It’s been 34 years since Monsanto Co. presented U.S. regulators with a seemingly routine study analyzing the effects the company’s best-selling herbicide might have on rodents. Now, that study is once again under the microscope, emerging as a potentially pivotal piece of evidence in litigation brought … Of Mice, Monsanto and a Mysterious Tumor
By Carey Gillam Sometimes the truth about our food is not very appetizing. As many gather this holiday season for shared family meals, it is likely that they’ll be serving up small doses of pesticides with each plate passed, including a prevalent type shown to be harmful to children and reproductive health. New data released … Hold the Plum Pudding: US Food Sampling Shows Troubling Pesticide Residues
