The Poison Papers

Documenting the history of pesticide hazards in the United States

Articles and News

U.S. Right To Know Provides Access to Key Monsanto Documents Relating to Glyphosate Cancer Lawsuits

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On its webpage entitled: The Monsanto Papers: MDL Glyphosate Cancer Case Key Documents & Analysis, US Right To Know has links to the key documents involved in the lawsuit, as well links to excellent articles based on the documents. The lawsuit alleges that Roundup herbicide caused plaintiffs or their loved ones to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

As discussed in the many news articles linked to on the site, the documents reveal Monsanto’s collusion with researchers, editors of scientific journals and regulators to hide or dismiss evidence of harm caused by glyphosate.

You can find this valuable resource of primary court documents and news stories at: https://usrtk.org/pesticides/mdl-monsanto-glyphosate-cancer-case-key-documents-analysis/.

How an Oregon activist’s barn produced the ‘Poison Papers’ that aids in a lawsuit against Monsanto

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St. Louis Public Radio has published a new article about The Poison Papers and Carol Van Strum. Van Strum is an activist who collected the documents during her past 40 years involved in lawsuits against chemical companies and the federal government.

“It began in the early 1970s, when Van Strum’s family saw an ad in the San Francisco Chronicle and moved to a farm in the Siuslaw National Forest.

Soon after, she said, they were sprayed by a helicopter with 2,4,5-T — a component of Agent Orange — that was meant to treat a timber crop on nearby public land.

She banded together with neighbors, sued and won an injunction to stop the spraying.”

The hope is that the newly digitized Poison Papers will aid in current efforts to protect the public from toxic exposure.

“Bill Sherman, assistant attorney general for the state of Washington, said he was reviewing the new documents and expected they would be involved in the state’s lawsuit against Monsanto.

‘They confirm that Monsanto was aware of the harms that their PCBs were causing and continued to sell them without telling the public or their customers,” Sherman said of the documents.’”

Read the full article, “How an Oregon activist’s barn produced the ‘Poison Papers’ that aids in a lawsuit against Monsanto” on St. Louis Public Radio (August 24, 2017) at: http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/how-oregon-activists-barn-produced-poison-papers-aids-lawsuit-against-monsanto#stream/0

Collusion Or Coincidence? Records Show EPA Efforts To Slow Herbicide Review Came In Coordination With Monsanto

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Newly released documents from 2015 show the EPA working with the Pesticide Industry to keep toxic chemicals on the market for as long as possible.

“Newly released government email communications show a persistent effort by multiple officials within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to slow a separate federal agency’s safety review of Monsanto’s top-selling herbicide. Notably, the records demonstrate that the EPA efforts came at the behest of Monsanto, and that EPA officials were helpful enough to keep the chemical giant updated on their progress.”

Read the full Huffington Post article by Carey Gillam “Collusion Or Coincidence? Records Show EPA Efforts To Slow Herbicide Review Came In Coordination With Monsanto” (published August 17, 2017) at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5994dad4e4b056a2b0ef02f1

Republicans Rush to Monsanto’s Aid Touting Industry-Biased Reuters Report

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In their latest attempt to shield Monsanto from accountability, House Republicans have seized upon the flawed and biased reporting of a Reuters journalist whose work has emerged as a key lobbying tool for the embattled agrichemical company as it faces lawsuits, regulatory threats and a wave of awful press coverage about allegations of improper influence over research.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/republicans-rush-monsantos-aid-industry-biased-reuters-report

Monsanto sold banned chemicals for years despite known health risks, archives reveal

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“Monsanto continued to produce and sell toxic industrial chemicals known as PCBs for eight years after learning that they posed hazards to public health and the environment, according to legal analysis of documents put online in a vast searchable archive.”

The Poison Papers archive has been analyzed by Bill Sherman, the assistant attorney general for the US state of Washington. Washington state and various west coast cities are suing Monsanto for PCB contamination. Sherman is quoted as saying that Poison Paper documents provide “damning evidence” that was previously unknown to the state.

Due to their extreme toxicity to human and environmental health, by 1979 PCBs were banned in many countries.

“Yet a decade earlier, one Monsanto pollution abatement plan in the archive from October 1969, singled out by Sherman, suggests that Monsanto was even then aware of the risks posed by PCB use.”

To learn more about what Monsanto knew and hid about PCB toxicity read the full article “Monsanto sold banned chemicals for years despite known health risks, archives reveal” by Arthur Neslen on The Guardian (10 August 2017) go to: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/09/monsanto-continued-selling-pcbs-for-years-despite-knowing-health-risks-archives-reveal.