Dear members of The Current (CBC Radio) team,
Today’s segment of The Current regarding Roundup was prompted by
1. 3 recent, very large Court awards in California against Monsanto-Bayer’s chemical Roundup.
2. The class action lawsuit in Saskatchewan against Monsanto-Bayer.
A CRITICAL factor that should have been raised, “The Monsanto Papers” (the process of “disclosure” (INSERT: “discovery/disclosure”) in the trials). Evidence that thoroughly condemned Monsanto was contained in documentation that came from Monsanto itself.
Trials involve “disclosure” (INSERT: “discovery/disclosure”) – – the stage of the litigation process when each party is required to disclose the documents that are relevant to the issues in dispute to the other party. … Disclosure is intended to ensure that the parties show their hands in respect of documentary evidence at an early stage.
Trials in a democracy are open to the public. Transparency means that the documents provided through Disclosure (INSERT: “discovery/disclosure”) enter the public sphere.
The Disclosure provided by Monsanto in the first trial came to be known as “The Monsanto Papers”. “The Papers” expanded with Disclosure from the 2nd and 3rd trials.
A compelling reason for the guilty verdicts, accompanied by large financial awards to the plaintiffs, is the information provided by Monsanto itself.
The papers document what Monsanto has known about the toxicity of Roundup for a very long time, and the steps it has taken to prevent the information from becoming known. Relationships between Monsanto, regulators and media are also documented.
(INSERT: The latter sentence is addressed in 2019-05-07 Monsanto Argues Roundup Cancer Victim Should Receive Less Money Because of Imminent Death, Mercola)
The second and third trials each had their own independent disclosure. The legal teams for the Plaintiffs in those cases, already had access to the Disclosure provided through Trial #1. They didn’t just do a repeat of the strategy that was successful in Trial #1; variations meant that Monsanto’s Disclosure had to vary from what was provided in the first Trial. So yet more documentation about Monsanto’s shenanigans through the years entered the public domain.
Coverage of the Roundup issue is seriously deficient if it fails to address what Monsanto had to reveal because of “Disclosure”.
Disclosure also explains why Corporations like SNC Lavalin, and their collaborating government officials will do anything they can to avoid going “to Trial”.
If the Media remains silent on the role of Disclosure in the court awards against Monsanto, the public has no way of appreciating the effects of Legislation that allows Corporations to circumvent going to Trial (public, transparent).
For Monsanto, the chickens are coming home to roost.
Yours truly,
Sandra Finley
P.S. As I see it, THE CONUNDRUM FOR CANADIAN MEDIA IN THE ROUNDUP CASES:
We are uncomfortable acknowledging the corruption in our institutions.
WHO on The Current team lined up Keith Solomon to speak to “the science” of Roundup? Any background check would surely identify him as an industry shill, known for well over a decade. Discredited to the point where the industry (CropLife Canada) stopped trotting him out. You discredit the CBC by using him as a source.