Hallelujah!

Six years ago, in July of 2013, when I learned about the fact that glyphosate was not only sprayed on GMOs, but on many grains and food crops as a drying agent, I knew we must not only raise awareness about the risks of GMOs, but glyphosate as well. I was told not to go after Roundup. That is was "too big." That it was the most widely used herbicide in the world and we would never stop the chemical companies. Many saw me and our mom's group as irrational and perhaps even naive. But we were determined and we initiated glyphosate testing in water, urine, and our breast milk. The results were shocking and the public realized that their families were being contaminated by this dangerous weedkiller. Many other groups began to test for glyphosate in foods, beer, snacks, sanitary products (all positive) and eventually the media picked up the results. New scientific studies were conducted and lawyers began to take interest.

Today for the second time over the past eight months a jury has unanimously found Monsanto guilty of hiding the fact that they knew their glyphosate-based herbicide product, Roundup, could cause cancer. This time, the plaintiff, Edwin Hardeman, in a federal trial, was awarded $80 million dollars. $5 million was in compensatory and $75 million in punitive damages. In the first trial, Johnson v. Monsanto the jury awarded the plaintiff $289 million dollars and the judge reduces the award to $79 million. At this rate, with thousands of other cases filed against Monsanto, Bayer may be facing payments of $880 billion dollars. Bayer purchased Monsanto for $63 billion just last year.

By Neil Young and Daryl Hannah

Updated: Oct. 14, 2018 11:12 a.m.

As originally posted in the San Francisco Chronicle