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