While looking for recent information about how agriculture is fed information, even disinformation, by “Big Ag,” I found an interesting headline: “Inside Bayer’s State-by-State Efforts to Stop Pesticide Lawsuits” and was compelled to write about it. This relates to my previous article, Conventional Farming Is A Philosophy Too, where I mention how big ag feeds and controls information through many areas from universities, university research, government, and crop advisors. I found evidence in a previous article discussing how Big Ag supports universities through massive donations for buildings. In that article, three large companies donated millions to build a feed mill for a college.
Bayer purchased Monsanto in 2018. Monsanto’s glyphosate product has been the subject of over 100,000 lawsuits, having had to pay over $9 billion in restitution, leaving Bayer to foot the bill. (Gains, 2024) As the lawsuits mount, they are also working on state-by-state legislation in several states to prevent lawsuits from ever being filed against EPA-registered pesticides again. (Held, 2024 and CBS News, 2024) Lobbyists are also at work on the state and federal levels, getting Congressmen on their sides to support these bills on the federal side. “Bayer described the legislation as one strategy to address the "headwinds" it faces. About 167,000 legal claims against Bayer assert Roundup causes a cancer called non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.” (CBS News, 2024) According to CBS News, Iowa passed the bill, but it is awaiting approval in Missouri and was defeated in Idaho. (CBS News, 2024)
Bayer is using several of the same tactics that Monsanto used, stating their product is safe based on thousands of papers on its safety, which were researched at the same universities that received donations from Monsanto and other large companies. One could say they had a vested interest in these universities to generate the research they wanted. Several parties involved in the universities receiving millions in donations mentioned this concern in the Held article. (Held, 2024) The saying goes, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. We should be asking, “What are we paying for?”
References
CBSnews.com. (2024, April 16). Bayer seeks legal shield from suits claiming Roundup causes cancer. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bayer-roundup-legislation-shield-cancer/
Gaines, M. Cetera, M. (Editor). (2024, February 2). Roundup Lawsuit Update April 2024. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/legal/product-liability/roundup-lawsuit-update/
Held, L. (2024, MARCH 27). Inside Bayer’s State-by-State Efforts to Stop Pesticide Lawsuits. Civil Eats.com. https://civileats.com/2024/03/27/inside-bayers-state-by-state-efforts-to-stop-pesticide-lawsuits/
What do you think? Should any company be exempt from lawsuits (for cause)? Should we trust the EPA has required all of the proper research on pesticides?