Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Wednesday July 11 2018, @01:57AM   Printer-friendly
from the trial-roundup dept.

Monsanto 'bullied scientists' and hid weedkiller cancer risk, lawyer tells court

Monsanto has long worked to "bully scientists" and suppress evidence of the cancer risks of its popular weedkiller, a lawyer argued on Monday in a landmark lawsuit against the global chemical corporation.

"Monsanto has specifically gone out of its way to bully ... and to fight independent researchers," said the attorney Brent Wisner, who presented internal Monsanto emails that he said showed how the agrochemical company rejected critical research and expert warnings over the years while pursuing and helping to write favorable analyses of their products. "They fought science."

Wisner, who spoke inside a crowded San Francisco courtroom, is representing DeWayne Johnson, known also as Lee, a California man whose cancer has spread through his body. The father of three and former school groundskeeper, who doctors say may have just months to live, is the first person to take Monsanto to trial over allegations that the chemical sold under the Roundup brand is linked to cancer. Thousands have made similar legal claims across the US.

Monsanto? Never heard of it.

Also at the San Francisco Chronicle.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @03:05AM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @03:05AM (#705548)

    You've mistaken capitalism, an economic system, for anarchy, a political system.

    If men were angels, they would form a society based on free market anarcho-socialism, meaning the ownership of capital by the workers, who buy and sell goods in a free market, not anarcho-capitalism.

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   +3  
       Insightful=2, Underrated=1, Total=3
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @03:07AM (8 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @03:07AM (#705551)

    This universe has resources. They are used for this or for that.

    Everything reduces to a question of economics.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @03:19AM (7 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @03:19AM (#705558)

      Ah, so we come already to an infinite regress of contract enforcement services.

      I am having trouble picking out a contract enforcement service, and I hope you can help me. It seems we are unable to resolve who should enforce the contract enforcement contract if there is a disagreement. For example, I am concerned that any contract enforcement service I might pick might have an undisclosed agreement with the other party to the contract for which I was seeking a contract enforcement service. It seems the only way is to find a contract enforcement service to enforce the contract enforcement contract for the contract.

      If men were angels, I suspect I would not need contract enforcement at all, alas.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @03:55AM (6 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @03:55AM (#705576)

        The answer: Neither; they co-evolved.

        Secondly: If men were angels, government would work.

        • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @04:25AM (3 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @04:25AM (#705588)

          The answer: Neither; they co-evolved.

          We need an answer that is more specific. All that this says is that you haven't a clue how it will work but that you have unwavering faith that it will work

          Secondly: If men were angels, government would work.

          How does anarcho-capitalism deal with the fact that men are not angels and that they are instead prone to escalating all conflicts to violence, no matter how clearly the facts stand against the party resorting to violence?

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @05:05AM (2 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @05:05AM (#705600)

            The answer has been known for a long time: Separation of Powers

            That's why "modern" governments have multiple branches (usually legislative, judiciary, and executive); however, such a separation of powers is smoke and mirrors. The most general form of the separation of powers is competition withing a market of voluntary trade, where "voluntary" means "according to contracts to which each party agrees in advance of interaction".

            Anarcho-capitalism doesn't deny or eschew the non-angelic nature mankind, but rather embraces it. That's why it's a superior foundation for the organization of society: It's not based on fantasy, but rather on objective reality (proven objective over millennia of observation).

            At the level of the "nation state", there has always existed anarchy. The only reason humanity hasn't yet annihilated itself in the hell of absolute Tyranny is that there has always been some degree of a separation of powers (e.g., Russia versus the U.S., etc.).

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @12:49PM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @12:49PM (#705689)

              By invoking the United States and Russia, your argument rests on thin ice. Are you familiar with how Stanislav Petrov prevented nuclear war [wikipedia.org]? What is striking about that incident is not that he did the right thing.

              You seem to have a poor grasp of capitalism if you believe it will lead to a separation of powers. We can look around us today and see the accumulation of power into the hands of fewer and fewer corporations, who become larger and larger by acquiring each other. This is an inherent property of capitalism, and it is the nature of the inherent contradiction. Rational actors in a capitalist system behave in ways that eventually destroy capitalism.

              Can you give me some specific examples of how government interference leads to corporate mergers, so that I might understand how this would be avoided by an anarchist political system?

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 12 2018, @01:11AM

                by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 12 2018, @01:11AM (#706033)

                I see this story is about to drop from the front page.

                Looks like that's it, for now, but until next time, may the power of the cosmos be with you!

                Yes! Yes! Yes!

        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday July 11 2018, @02:23PM (1 child)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 11 2018, @02:23PM (#705734) Journal

          Secondly: If men were angels, government would work.

          Surely, you are aware that hell is populated by fallen angels? Lucifer is one of them. If men were angels, I suspect that things might be far worse than they are, here on earth.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @06:54PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @06:54PM (#705869)

            Shirley you are aware of The Federalist No. 51 [constitution.org]! Let us hear what pseudo-anon Publius, who I understand has an exceptionally low UID, has to say:

            If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.