23:04 – Monsanto trial: complainant's health at the heart of the debate

Dewayne Johnson's end-stage cancer health attributed to Monsanto's Roundup Herbicide was at the center of the debate Monday at the American trial of the multinational in the United States

"My life has completely changed" after the diagnosis in 2014, said Dewayne "Lee" Johnson, formerly very sporty, who testified on Monday, with his deep voice, in front of a court in San Francisco (west)

At 46 years old, this father of two boys suffers from a non-Hodgkidian lymphone, incurable, which he attributes to having sprayed, during his work, in 2012 and 2014 RoundUp and RangerPro, two herbicides marketed by the agrochemical giant Monsanto

This is the first time that Monsanto, which has just been bought for the German Bayer, finds itself on the dock for potentially carcinogenic effects of these products containing glyphosate, a substance

While Mr. Johnson was "doing everything in the house", he can no longer help his wife, Araceli, he said, causing some smiles in the audience, talking about his children or the distribution of household chores.

Before the diagnosis, "we had no worries, no stress, life was beautiful", testified shortly before his wife, now forced to work 14 hours a day and having two jobs to "help with the bills", her husband no longer able to work.

When she learned about the disease, her world "collapsed". "I did not want to believe it," she says at the bar, anxious smile and low voice.

– Silence of Defense –

Today, "It's very difficult, very stressful, it's too (hard) to explain how I feel, "she says, recounting her husband's moments of distress, when enduring the chemotherapy, he" cried secretly. "

The hearing was started by the testimony of Dr. Ope Ofodile, dermatologist, one of Johnson's doctors in 2014 and 2015. She commented on photos of lesions on the body of Mr. Johnson or his response to the first treatments.

Face to the emotionally charged testimonials, Monsanton's lawyers have so far remained silent, not asking questions.

Between 2012 and 2014, Mr. Johnson sprayed on school grounds in a small town in California in the western United States, Roundup and RangerPro, a product similar to Roundup

According to Johns Glyphosate is the active ingredient that caused the disease, and Monsanto knowingly concealed its dangerousness when it should have informed the public.

"Monsanto has known for 40 years that the basic components Roundup can cause tumors in laboratory animals, "said one of the complainant's lawyers, Brent Wisner, on the first day of the trial, July 9.

The prosecution's task is arduous because it It is to convince jurors of the link between Monsanto's glyphosate products and Dewayne Johnson's cancer, which has not been scientifically proven despite years of debate.

Monsanto s has been attached since the beginning of the trial to refute any link between glyphosate and cancer, scientific studies in support, which are challenged by detractors of glyphosate.

"The cancer of Mr. Johnson is a terrible disease and we must all have the greatest empathy for the ordeal he is going through, "one of the Monsanto group's lawyers at the opening of the trial, George Lombardi, said.

– Surprising studies? –

"The scientific evidence shows that glyphosate products do not cause cancer or cause cancer of Mr. Johnson," he argued, however,

The defense of Mr. Johnson said it hoped "as much as possible" in damages from Monsanto, which is the subject of thousands of lawsuits in the United States.

Unlike the US federal agency for protection of the environment (EPA), California, where San Francisco is located, has put glyphosate on the list of carcinogens.

Glyphosate is also listed as "probable carcinogen" since 2015 by the World Health Organization (WHO), but not by European agencies, EFSA (food safety) and Echa (chemicals).

Praised by farmers for its efficiency and low cost, it is particularly controversial in Europe and especially in France.

The Monsa trial nto should last at least until August