BoingBoing

Monsanto is facing over 100 lawsuits in a Federal district court in San Francisco brought by people who attribute their non-Hodgkin's lymphoma to exposure to glyphosate in Monsanto's Roundup weed-killer, and as part of the discovery process, it submitted internal documents to the court that detailed shenanigans in the company's internal science and its dealings with regulators and the press.

Then Monsanto's lawyers neglected to a motion seeking continued protection of the confidential documents, believing that a "a standing confidentiality order" was in place, something that the plaintiff's lawyers disagree with, which is why they released a huge tranche of damning memos.

Included in the dump are memos showing that EPA regulators had a back-channel to Monsanto through which the company was kept informed of upcoming bad publicity so they could get ahead of the press cycle with prepared PR blitzes; email chains in which Monsanto executives said that it was inappropriate to describe Roundup as non-carcinogenic; email chains from Monsanto scientists declining to publish corporate findings under their own name, on the grounds that this would be "ghost writing" and "unethical"; and evidence that an outside scientist who advocates for GMOs published editorials that were ghost-written by Monsanto's employees.

Monsanto says that the opposition lawyers "cherry-picked" the evidence that they published and that "the substance and the science are not affected" by the documents.   

The documents also show that a debate outside Monsanto about the relative safety of glyphosate and Roundup, which contains other chemicals, was also taking place within the company.

In a 2002 email, a Monsanto executive said, “What I’ve been hearing from you is that this continues to be the case with these studies — Glyphosate is O.K. but the formulated product (and thus the surfactant) does the damage.”

In a 2003 email, a different Monsanto executive tells others, “You cannot say that Roundup is not a carcinogen … we have not done the necessary testing on the formulation to make that statement.”

She adds, however, that “we can make that statement about glyphosate and can infer that there is no reason to believe that Roundup would cause cancer.”

Monsanto Emails Raise Issue of Influencing Research on Roundup Weed Killer [Danny Hakim/New York Times]

Monsanto Weed Killer Roundup Faces New Doubts on Safety in Unsealed Documents [Danny Hakim/New York Times]

We all know special interest lobbying is a huge problem in our government.  This video presents some enlightening information about the fact that the influence of special interests reach far beyond lobbying.  It also has a profound influence on the way we vote.  The growth of government/military and the jobs that go along with it has millions of people voting to perpetuate an out-of-control government simply to protect their jobs. 

Pretty much everything in this world is driven by self-interests.  Even the charitable things we do are driven by a self-interested desire to be to be a better person, one that isn't always doing things for material gain.   When you realize the enormous number of people employed by government and those on government assistance, you realize we are in a vicious self-sustaining cycle where it's increasingly difficult to reign in an out-of-control government because so many are dependent of it being that way.

 

 

 

This is the video the inspired the birth of the Kick Them All Out Project.  After watching this film the founder, Bruce McDonald, was so disturbed by what corporations have been allowed to do he felt he had to try and do something to stop their abuses. 

This incredibly unsettling film explores the entire history of corporations and how they've been allowed to virtually take over just about everything, from our values, to our educational system and even our government.  This film is what launched the Kick Them All Out Project.  The information in this film is an absolute must for your education.  If you truly want to be informed about why the world is as it is, you must watch this film!  It's 3 hours, but I guarantee it will be worth the investment of your time.