Monsanto’s Found Guilty of “Malice” Against Groundkeeper with Cancer For Use of Products with Roundup: Awarded 289-Million Dollars
By Aaris A. Schroeder
Editor-In-Chief
Jurors have awarded California resident and school-groundʻs keeper Dwayne Johnson $289 million in a historic verdict against Monsanto who uses the weed killer brand Roundup at his job on a daily basis, according to Democracy Now Correspondent, Amy Goodman. Johnson has developed tumors on his skin, soon to find out that it was non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma cancer after using Monsantoʻs Roundup weed killer products at his position. Doctors say he is unlikely to live past ʻ20.
Monsanto’s more or less controls the American food chain with its genetically modified (and roundup -ready) seeds and pesticide products like Roundup. They have threatened not only the United Stateʻs government but U.S. farmers and countries such as India with their GMO-cotton crops.
Recently, Bayer, a German multinational pharmaceutical and life sciences company joined forces with Monsanto, in a $62.5-billion takeover that occurred Tuesday, May 29, according to DW: Made For Minds.
Under the deal, Bayer will be selling off subsidiary business interests or investments with Monsanto and this overhaul is the largest ever in U.S. history. Part of Bayer, besides pharmaceuticals (your prescriptions and medications) and consumer health which deals with over-the-counter medications, nutritional items and even some foot and skincare items, Bayer also has been working in Crop Science. What this means is that they are creating “high-valued seeds,” “innovative chemical and biological pest management solutions” as well as “extensive customer service for modern and sustainable agriculture,” all of which comes straight from Bayerʻs official website.
According to an article in Vanity Fair, Monsanto spokesman Darren Wallis wrote this in an e-mail about why they ʻprotect their investmentsʻ also known to farmers and seed dealers as ʻscare-tactics:ʻ
“Monsanto spends more than $2-million a day in research to identify, test, develop and bring to market innovative new seeds and technologies that benefit farmers. One tool in protecting this investment is patenting our discoveries and, if necessary, legally defending those patents against those who might choose to infringe upon them.”
So what this means in laymanʻs terms is: those farmers whose land is infiltrated with Monsantoʻs round-up ready seeds (however way and whether they like it or not) will have to reap Monsantoʻs rule to ʻprotect and enforce their seed patents.ʻ Wallis concludes to say that only a small amount of these cases actually go to trial. These are the cases that need to be won in order to take governmental control out of the hand of big pharma and GMO-Roundup-ready seeds.
Montsantos has known for decades that their products cause cancer but have done nothing about it while other countries (Mainly in Europe) have banned these products. Hopefully, this ruling will help spark more appeals and knock Monsanto out of the farming box however both the United States citizens, farmers, farmer co-ops and seed dealers have a long way to go with this battle. The Monsanto company is in an abusive relationship with the government; so to say, with favors and threats to the government. They have turned an ancient practice of saving seeds into a corrupted, greedy business that only looks out for the bottom dollar, not our health.
