Bayer-Monsanto seek to poison people and take away their due process rights

Three states – Missouri, Idaho, and Iowa – are already considering the legislation. Missouri is the home state of Monsanto and the infamous chemical glyphosate (Roundup). Six years ago, Bayer bought out Monsanto. The merger has allowed these entities to continue the manufacture of glyphosate-based products, even after Monsanto was ordered to settle multi-million-dollar cases that proved Roundup caused non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Since then, Monsanto has reached settlement agreements for nearly 100,000 Roundup lawsuits, shelling out approximately $11 billion to people who were permanently harmed by the carcinogen. The public is becoming more aware of the damage caused by these chemicals. In 2020, Bayer agreed to a settlement of more than $10 billion for roughly 95,000 federal plaintiffs. On November 20, 2023, Bayer was ordered to settle a $1.5 billion verdict, and on January 26, 2024, they were ordered to settle another $2.25 billion verdict in Philadelphia. There are nearly 54,000 Roundup lawsuits still pending. Bayer has been able to negotiate block settlement agreements with the plaintiff’s lawyers before going to trial. This has kept the lawsuits out of the news and out of the public’s eye. However, Bayer is collapsing and has lost 70% of its stock value.

Syngenta, the manufacturer of atrazine and paraquat, is currently facing a lawsuit from 5,300 patients who suffer from Parkinson’s disease due to paraquat exposures. This corporation would also benefit from new state laws that would shield herbicide-makers from accountability.

Herbicide industry seeks the same protections that vaccine manufacturers mercilessly enjoy

The toxic herbicide industry is seeking the same kind of legal immunity that the vaccine industry has enjoyed for the past three decades. In 1986, Congress and President Ronald Reagan granted the vaccine industry legal immunity and established a special court to handle vaccine industry claims. The corrupt system shields vaccine manufacturers from jury trials and large settlements, permitting the industry to continue manufacturing products that harm people en masse. In return, the vaccine industry committed to paying a small excise tax for every vaccine dose to help fund small settlements for select cases approved by the Special Master of the Vaccine Court.

The toxic herbicide industry may seek something very similar and will make the case that their existence and their chemicals are necessary for the “greater good,” despite the thousands of claims proving them harmful to individuals.

When Idaho Senator Mark Harris (R) introduced the pesticide manufacturer legal immunity bill (Senate Bill 1245) on January 24, he pleaded that the state’s farmers couldn’t afford to lose “the agriculture pesticide products they depend on.” Just outside the senator’s city is Monsanto’s 800-acre compound, which includes their  phosphate mine and processing plant. When Harris spoke with the Senate committee in February, he brought along a Bayer lobbyist to validate his concerns.

The Iowa pesticide manufacturer immunity bill was introduced on January 31st. When it came before a legislative committee, Bayer lobbyists were the only people who came to support the bill. Bayer operates a manufacturing plant in Iowa and employs a large number of people there.

Daniel Hinkle, an attorney with the American Association for Justice, warns that if these bills are successful, Bayer will push similar legislation in another 10 to 15 states next year, while making a stronger case for a federal law protecting them from lawsuits. Hinkle said these bills only “condone” these companies’ “reported history of deception and fraud,” while putting the public at greater risk.

Sources include:

• EHN.org
• NewRepublic.com
• LawsuitInformationCenter.com
• Web.Archive.org
• MillerandZois.com
• Congress.gov

Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, were found to exceed safe levels at the Sky Valley Education Center. Five students and two parents who volunteered there participated in the suit after suffering from health problems linked to these chemicals in the school’s fluorescent light fixtures.

After a two-month trial in the King County Superior Court, the jury reached the verdict, which includes $784 million in punitive damages and $73 million in compensatory damages.

It is the eighth time that a jury in Washington has found Bayer must be held liable for children becoming ill due to exposure at the school, with a total of more than $1.5 billion being awarded so far in damages in such cases.

In 2021, a group of three teachers were awarded a sum of $185 million, while a $275 million verdict was handed down last year to a group of 10 students and parents. Another jury determined Monsanto owed a group of employees of the school $165 million last month. There are an additional 19 cases awaiting trial in King County Superior Court.

When the school was constructed in 1950, around 95 percent of its light ballasts contained PCBs. Students and teachers observed a brown and oily liquid coming from the light fixtures for many years, and staff reportedly instructed children to stay away and placed trash cans there to collect the liquid.

One of the plaintiffs said she believed the school was “poisoning” her and her children. One of her daughters reportedly passed out while at school, while another had to start using a mask because she had become so sensitive to chemicals and scents after starting school there.

All of the seven plaintiffs in this case have experienced nervous system dysfunction in connection with time spent teaching or learning at the school. Some also experienced endocrine system problems and other health concerns. They all spent time there between 7 and 18 years ago.

Not surprisingly, Bayer is appealing the decision. The German pharmaceutical giant purchased Monsanto, who manufactured the chemicals, for $63 billion in 2018 and has been dealing with a slew of lawsuits related to the company’s toxic herbicides.

Monsanto knew PCBs were toxic and covered up the risks

Monsanto knew that the chemical was toxic and covered up the risks of exposure, which include cancer and other illnesses, for many years. Internal communications show that Monsanto was aware that their PCBs, also known as “aroclors,” were toxic as far back as 1955, but they did not stop producing them until 1977, when they were faced with strong regulatory pressure.

The chemicals were widely used at the time for insulating electrical equipment. They were also found in paint, floor finishing products, caulking and carbon copy paper. Known as “forever chemicals,” they break down very slowly in the environment and can seep from caulk and paint into the air. They were banned by the federal government in 1979 on account of their links to cancer.

Monsanto and Bayer are also facing legal scrutiny over PCBs found in Vermont schools. The state’s legislature has ordered a search for PCBs in all schools in the state that were constructed before the toxic chemicals were banned. Several schools have already closed down parts of their property in response to the findings.

Burlington High School shut down in 2020 after high levels of PCBs were found there, and students have been learning in makeshift classrooms at a former Macy’s department store situated nearby for the last three years.

Sources for this article include:

• GreenMedInfo.com
• HeraldNet.com
• Reuters.com

Jurors in state court in Jefferson City awarded James Draeger, Valerie Gunther and Dan Anderson a total of $61.1 million in actual damages along with another $500 million each in punitive damages over claims that using Roundup on their lawns and gardens caused them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The suit is one of many in recent days in which juries have ruled against Monsanto over claims concerning the carcinogenic properties of its Roundup formula. This latest suit is one of the largest to be handed down against a U.S.-based corporate defendant this year.

(Related: In 2021, a court ruled that Monsanto showed “willful” disregard for human safety by selling cancer-causing glyphosate.)

Will Monsanto survive the litigatory pressure?

Though Monsanto has won other similar such cases in the past, the fact that it lost this big one along with numerous others recently, has caused speculation that the now-German-owned drug and agriculture chemical company may need to alter its legal strategy.

The jury, based in Cole County, Mo., ruled that Monsanto is liable for claims of negligence, design defects and failing to warn plaintiffs of the potential health damages of using Roundup, the primary active ingredient of which is glyphosate.

Each of the three plaintiffs was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma that is said to have been caused by the simple use of Roundup on their family properties. The weed killer is highly toxic, we now know, and Monsanto is known for hiding and covering up the damning science against its products.

Monsanto is appealing the ruling, which could end up resulting in reduced punitive damages. It all depends on what happens and whether or not the case makes it to the Supreme Court, which reportedly will not allow punitive damages to be this high based on court guidance.

Bayer, which purchased Monsanto a few years back, continues to claim that decades of studies support the safe use of Roundup.

The case marks the fourth straight loss for Bayer in court this year. Union Investment, one of Bayer’s top 10 shareholders, recently called on the company to try to engage more directly with plaintiffs to settle cases rather than see them through to court.

Meanwhile, the plaintiffs are celebrating the victory, as is their lawyer, Bart Rankin, who said in a statement that this is just the first case among many to be won on behalf of thousands of plaintiffs all across the country.

In many ways, Monsanto has turned out to be a toxic asset for Bayer, which everyone cringed at when the company took over the chemical giant. With so much evidence floating around out there about the dangers of glyphosate, it is almost shocking that Bayer made the decision to buy at all.

Nevertheless, suits against Bayer continue to flood the courts, and the company has said in a recent statement that it plans to present stronger arguments in the appeal that it says will overturn the judgment.

“It said in the recent trials that have gone against the company, courts have improperly permitted plaintiffs to misrepresent the European Union’s renewal process for glyphosate and the safety assessment by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,” Reuters reported about the matter.

Last week, the EU Commission said it would renew approval for glyphosate based on the safety assessments of the European Food Agency and European Chemicals Agency following the failure of EU member states to provide a clear opinion one way or another about the herbicide’s continued use.

More of the latest news about the downfall of the chemical industry can be found at Collapse.news.

Sources for this article include:

• Bloomberg.com
• NaturalNews.com
• Reuters.com