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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.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Wednesday July 11 2018, @03:19AM (2 children)
Under US law, those contracts, which you frequently can't negotiate, now routinely say that you can't sue them no matter what the corporation in question does.
Also, you can only negotiate a contract when your agreement is required for the corporation to legally do something. If, say, your neighbor is spraying poison all over his property, that's likely to affect you, and you had no opportunity to negotiate any kind of contract with either your neighbor or the manufacturer of the poison in question.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 11 2018, @03:46AM (1 child)
How have you not yet convinced yourself that every problem of society is the lack of well-defined property rights.
Capitalism is merely the philosophy that every resource ultimately needs to be associated with a well-defined owner, and that the best distribution of ownership results from an iterative process of contract negotiation, dispute resolution, and enforcement.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Wednesday July 11 2018, @10:40AM
Because it isn't. And I just described an example of a problem that isn't caused by a lack of well-defined property rights: A person is able to cause serious problems for his neighbor by poisoning the air, ground, or water of his own property with a chemical. And this sort of thing isn't limited to small-scale problems: For example, a few years ago poor storage of toxic chemicals near a river caused a city of 150,000 to be unable to use their primary water supply.
When dogmatic rules fail to match reality, the rules are incorrect and need to be changed to fit reality.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.