{"id":64861,"date":"2015-10-12T12:00:11","date_gmt":"2015-10-12T11:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=64861"},"modified":"2015-10-12T05:07:21","modified_gmt":"2015-10-12T04:07:21","slug":"monsanto-fights-back-against-cancer-lawsuits-as-company-eliminates-12-of-workforce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/10\/monsanto-fights-back-against-cancer-lawsuits-as-company-eliminates-12-of-workforce\/","title":{"rendered":"Monsanto Fights Back Against Cancer Lawsuits as Company Eliminates 12% of Workforce"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Update: EcoWatch was provided documentation today, Oct. 9, regarding the Judi Fitzgerald vs. Monsanto Company lawsuit. The documentation dated Oct. 6, says,\u00a0\u201cPursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4l(a)(l)(A)(i), Plaintiff Judi Fitzgerald, by\u00a0and through her undersigned counsel, hereby gives notice that the above-action against\u00a0Defendant Monsanto Company is voluntarily dismissed without prejudice.\u201d]<\/em><\/p>\n

9 Oct 2015 – Monsanto<\/a> is on the defensive after the agricultural giant was sued by two U.S. farm workers<\/a> who claim that glyphosate<\/a>\u2014the primary ingredient in Monsanto\u2019s weedkiller, Roundup\u2014caused their cancers.<\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/EcoWatch\/status\/649238781606920192\/photo\/1?ref_src=twsrc^tfw<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that glyphosate is safe for human health when used as labeled,\u201d Monsanto\u2019s spokesperson Charla Lord told Bloomberg<\/em><\/a> via email.<\/p>\n

Lord also said that while Monsanto is sympathetic to individuals experiencing health problems, she added that the latest lawsuits brought against the company are \u201cwithout merit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first suit was filed in Los Angeles late last month by 58-year-old former field worker Enrique Rubio, who was diagnosed with bone cancer in 1995. He believes his exposure to Roundup and other pesticides led to his diagnosis. That same day, 64-year-old assistant horticulturalist Judi Fitzgerald filed suit in New York City, making similar claims.\u00a0Fitzgerald was diagnosed with leukemia in 2012.<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs also accuse Monsanto of falsifying data and leading a \u201cprolonged campaign of misinformation\u201d to sway the public, farm workers and government agencies about the safety of the herbicide.<\/p>\n

These lawsuits come six months after the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer\u00a0arm of the World Health Organization, reported<\/a> that glyphosate was \u201cprobably carcinogenic to humans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs are heavily relying on these findings in their cases. The IARC report \u201cconfirms what has been believed for years: that glyphosate is toxic to humans,\u201d Bloomberg<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n

Monsanto<\/a> is on the defensive after the agricultural giant was sued by two U.S. farm workers<\/a> who claim that glyphosate<\/a>\u2014the primary ingredient in Monsanto\u2019s weedkiller, Roundup\u2014caused their cancers.<\/p>\n

Monsanto has demanded a retraction<\/a> of the WHO report and will \u201cvigorously\u201d defend itself against the lawsuits.<\/p>\n

\u201cDecades of experience within agriculture and regulatory reviews using the most extensive worldwide human health databases ever compiled on an agricultural product contradict the claims in the suit which will be vigorously defended,\u201d Lord said.<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs also cite Roundup bans in the Netherlands, France, Bermuda and other countries in their case, Bloomberg<\/em> pointed out.<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald and Rubio are both represented by Weitz & Luxenberg<\/a>, a prominent New York City-based plaintiffs\u2019 law firm which specializes in asbestos disease, environmental pollutants, and dangerous drugs and medical devices.<\/p>\n

The same firm happens to be representing the town and school districts of Westport, Massachusetts that filed suit against Monsanto last year<\/a> to recover the costs of removing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from their schools.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the world\u2019s largest seed company has seen slumping profits and announced Wednesday it will cut 2,600 jobs, or 12 percent of its\u00a022,500-employee workforce, over the next two years.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/GMOInside\/status\/651949718164119552\/photo\/1?ref_src=twsrc^tfw<\/p>\n

The move was a \u201cpart of a cost-saving plan designed to deal with falling sales of its biotech seeds and herbicides, which pushed its quarterly losses deeper into the red,\u201d the Associated Press<\/em><\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

Monsanto reported a $495 million loss for its fiscal fourth quarter. Sales of its best-selling product, biotech corn seeds, fell 5 percent to $598 million, and the company\u2019s chemical business, led by Roundup weed killer, also fell 12 percent to $1.1 billion.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that the multinational biotech and agricultural firm has had a rough year. Last month, California\u2019s Environmental Protection Agency issued plans<\/a> to list glyphosate as known to cause cancer. Additionally, an appeals court in Lyon, France upheld a 2012 ruling against Monsanto, in which the company was found guilty of the chemical poisoning<\/a> of a farmer named Paul Fran\u00e7ois. Most of the European Union has also decided to \u201copt out\u201d<\/a> of growing the company\u2019s genetically modified<\/a> maize.<\/p>\n

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And we let them spray, & poison, our farmland? RT @prabalgurung<\/a>: French Court – Monsanto Guilty of Chemical Poisoning http:\/\/t.co\/ssG3JVzjBj<\/a><\/p>\n

— Sophia Bush (@SophiaBush) September 24, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n