Carcinogenic Monsanto and glyphosate, in process

Is Roundup carcinogenic? Has Monsanto deliberately concealed the dangerousness of its glyphosate herbicide? These are the questions that a US court reviews since Monday, July 9 in the trial of an individual with a terminal cancer.

Although there are hundreds and even thousands of processes in the United States against the agrochemical giant, the application Dewayne Johnson, a 46-year-old American who fumed with Roundup for over two years, is the first associated with this product and its possible carcinogenic effects leading to a trial.

The process officially began in mid-June with the appointment of a judge, but debates began this week in San Francisco, California after a series of technical hearings. It is expected that it will last at least three weeks, until August 9th.

Sold for over 40 years, Roundup is one of the most used herbicides in the world, it contains glyphosate, a highly controversial substance that is the subject of conflicting scientific studies on its carcinogenic character.

Monsanto being forced to pay millions of dollars in damages, has always denied any connection between cancer and glyphosate.

The plaintiff, Dewayne Johnson, "is fighting for his life" after being diagnosed with incurable non-Hodgkin's lymphoma two years ago, says one of his lawyers, David Dickens, of the law firm. Miller lawyers, specializing in the defense of victims of defective products.

"This is not the fate of destiny", this is not a "genetic problem" "is for its continued exposure to Roundup and Ranger Pro" (a similar product Monsanto), that & # 39; He sprayed between 2012 and 2014 on school grounds in the city of Benicia, California, says Dickens.

"And that could have been avoided," says the lawyer, accusing Monsanto, which has just been acquired by the German Bayer, deliberately concealing the dangerousness of its products from the public.

They have not yet established the amount they claim, but they speak of a "multi-million dollar lawsuit".

However, it will not be easy for Dewayne Johnson, whose lawyers will have to prove a link between her illness and her serious skin lesions. Fumigation of glyphosate

"She did not cause cancer," says Sandra Edwards of the law firm Farrella, Braun and Martel, one of Monsanto's lawyers

During the trial, "they will see a lot of information and science," he says, noting that there have been "studies that have followed for years and years from people who have used these products "without concluding that they caused cancer. "It's extremely difficult to hold a business accountable for specific cases of cancer or other pesticide-related diseases," says Linda Wells, of the Pesticide Action Network's NGO Pesticide Action Network

. In this case, it will be a big blow to the entire pesticide industry, "adds Wells

The case is all the more complex as there are many contradictory studies and decisions about glyphosate

. (EPA), California has put glyphosate on the list of carcinogens. And in this state, any manufacturer who has knowledge of the confirmed or suspected carcinogenicity of a product must compulsorily make it appear on the packaging

Glyphosate is also classified as "probably carcinogenic" since 2015 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, an agency of the World Health Organization (WHO); As for Europe, last November, the European Union decided to renew the license of the herbicide for five years.

Controversial Company

Founded in 1901 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, Monsanto, first produced saccharin, a famous and powerful sweetener and, since the 1940s, was launched in agrochemicals.

The company was associated, along with other companies in the sector, in the manufacture of the scrub called "Agent Orange", used massively. by the US Army during the Vietnam War.

In 1976, Monsanto launched its Roundup herbicide, then developed the first cell of a genetically modified plant, before specializing in these transgenic products (GMOs). “/>

The first genetically modified seeds, designed to withstand Roundup, began to be manufactured in the 1990s.

Roundup contains glyphosate, a substance that has been the subject of scientific studies on its carcinogenic nature without glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the world under different brands, since the Monsanto patent became public in the year 2000.

In 2012, Monsanto reached an agreement with authorities in the locality of Nitro, West Virginia, USA, to compensate him for $ 93 million for serious damage to the health of its inhabitants. In Nitro had worked, in the 50s and 60s, a plant that made the main ingredient of the agent Orange.

In September 2015, a French court of appeal sentenced the US multinational to compensate a drunk farmer in 2004 for the effluvia emanating from another of its products, the Lasso, banned later in several countries

. currently employs some 20,000 people worldwide and achieves an annual business turnover of approximately $ 15 billion.

This year, Monsanto was bought by the German pharmaceutical and agrochemical group Bayer for more than 60 billion dollars. dollars; In early June, Bayer announced its intention to remove the name of Monsanto, a symbol for its critics of the agrochemical industry's ills.