The Monsanto Papers

The first batch of Monsanto Papers were published in early 2017. The dossier contained hundreds of internal emails of Monsanto, as well as its correspondence with US Federal Agencies, the content of which revealed the magnitude of collusion between Monsanto and the EPA in order to undermine the investigation of the potential hazard of Glyphosate for human beings.

The dossier revealed that Monsanto had been ghost writing some studies fraudulently attributed to apparently “independent academics” presented as ‘independent studies’. The documents also show how Monsanto put pressure on the US government with the aim of delaying the product’s safety assessments.

Following the publication of the Papers, cases against Monsanto relating to the correlation between the use of glyphosate based herbicide RoundUp and the development of non-Hodgkin’s non-human lymphoma increased exponentially. It was estimated that, as by March 2017, a total of more than 700 cases had been opened by state and federal courts.

By the end of July 2017, new documents, released by the firm Baum Hedlund Aristei Goldman, indicated that “the documents show that Monsanto has deliberately been stopping studies that look bad for them, ghostwriting literature and engaging in a whole host of corporate malfeasance. They [Monsanto] have been telling everybody that these products are safe because regulators have said they are safe, but it turns out that Monsanto has been in bed with U.S. regulators while misleading European regulators”. The documents show how Monsanto hid information about the dangers and toxicity of Roundup and prove how science has been manipulated, and how supported U.S. regulators were corrupted, undermining health and environmental rights.

In addition to Monsanto attacking independent science, the network of scientists showed that Monsato developed a secret army of soldiers that it deployed whenever it needed in order to convince regulators, scientific journals, or the press that Monsanto’s position is the valid one and that other views and concerns are not.

Attacks against IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer)

The attacks against IARC were exposed by Le Monde in its investigation “Monsanto papers: the war on science by the pesticides giant”, where it has been defined as one of the most brutal and offensive campaign conducted against IARC by a corporation. The journalists Stéphane Foucart and Stéphane Horel: “for the past two years a raging fire has targeted the institution (…) the credibility and integrity of (the Director’s) work is being challenged, his experts are denigrated and harassed by lawyers and his finances weakened. For nearly half a century IARC has been charged, under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO), to draw up an inventory of carcinogens. But now the venerable agency is beginning to waver under the assault.” The agency’s director stated “it’s linked to classifications, where there’s a very strong commercial interest”

Attack against Séralini

The editor of the scientific journal Food and Chemical Toxicology Journal was targeted when it published Seralini’s long term study showing high toxicity even in small doses. Under intense pressure the Editor retracted the study. Following concerted opposition by independent scientists and civil society, It was later republished.

Europe

On 24 October, the European Parliament adopted a non-binding text calling for the phase-out of glyphosate in the coming years, with a complete ban by 2022. Glyphosate’s licence renewal is due to expire on December 15^th, and EU member states in Brussels are expected to vote on this before that date. Discussions on whether to renew or not brought out more light on concerns about loopholes, conflicts of interest, corporate interference and pressure, as well as giving a very clear picture of corporate strategic efforts to control, manipulate, and deceive, which characterised the risk assessment analysis that led to the 18 months exemption of glyphosate.

See the following links for further details:

What the Monsanto Papers tell us about corporate science

Corporate Europe Observatory, 1 March 2018

The Monsanto Papers: MDL Glyphosate Cancer Case Key Documents & Analysis

U.S. Right to Know

Monsanto Papers | Secret Documents

Baum Hedlund Aristei Goldman – Lawfirm

The Monsanto Papers, Part 2 — Reaping a Bitter Harvest

English version of Part 2 of Le Monde investigation – Environmental Health News, 21 November 2017

The Monsanto Papers, Part 1 — Operation: Intoxication

English version of Part 1 of Le Monde investigation – Environmental Health News, 20 November 2017

Monsanto Faces Blowback Over Cancer Cover-Up