ABC News  (Australia),  documentary:  The secret tactics Monsanto used to protect Roundup, its star product

I don’t think you can evaluate the arguments surrounding Bayer-Monsanto’s Roundup (glyphosate) and cancer,

WITHOUT more than a passing  understanding of

1.    IARC
2.    CropLife

This documentary  addresses both, with actual interviews.  Rare.

•  The question of crossing the line with political contributions,  you’ll see CropLife America and CropLife Australia officials.
• You might like this bit of background from the horse’s mouth (IARC), before watching the video:

2015-03 What is IARC?  IARC 2015 “classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans” . . . and “strong” evidence for genotoxicity.

TIMELINE of the documentary:

August 2018 – The jury award in the first Bayer-Monsanto trial,  plaintiff Dewayne Johnson, was announced.  Part of the documentary was filmed in the U.S.   Johnson’s cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, is terminal.  There’s footage of the “lesions” on his body that are symptomatic.

Oct, 2018 –  This documentary from Australia was released.

By May 2019 – we have the results of two more trials against Bayer-Monsanto,  guilty.  “The Monsanto Papers” are documents supplied to the Courts in 3 different trials, through the “discovery” pre-trial process.  Monsanto itself provides the evidence to incriminate itself – – severely.

Through Question and Answer interviews in the documentary, to me

• There are numerous responses of the Monsanto Executive that amount to self-crucifiction.  The industry has been able to get away with its tactics, but no longer.   Too many people know too much by now.
• The interviews of regulators and CropLife are the same; they come out badly, too.

But judge for yourself, maybe you disagree?

The secret tactics Monsanto used to protect Roundup, its star product | Four Corners

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JszHrMZ7dx4  

Published on Oct 8, 2018

Four Corners investigates the secret tactics used by global chemical giant #Monsanto to protect its billion-dollar business and its star product — the weed killer, #Roundup.

In follow-up to:

2019-02-14   . . . emphasis on role of the universities in “Plummeting insect numbers ‘threaten collapse of nature’”

Sandra speaking:

(Name) will not be the only one with the frustrations he posed.  Thank-you for giving voice (name).   I don’t know how old you are,  nor your life experience.  I can add some thoughts for skimming.

Before I do that,  a note about the LeadNow Petition re Monsanto  delivered on Saturday to University Chancellor Romanow.

Irony:  it’s gone full circle.   Romanow (then Premier) was on “The Real Board of Directors“, sub-title “The Construction of Biotechnology Policy in Canada, 1980-2002“  (Devlin Kuyek (86 pages), 2002).  Copy at

https://www.dalton.com/Content/files/biotech_canada.pdf

There are indeed jokesters in the universe.  I am imagining Romanow’s scrambling thoughts as he reads the petition.  He was a big part of the Government-University partnerships with, and funding of Monsanto (matching of research costs, turning over of Ag Canada and University Agriculture Department to Monsanto,  simultaneously  gutting Ag Canada through funding cuts).    I believe Romanow and others honestly believed the hype on biotechnology, they were doing a good thing for Canada getting in on the ground floor, a big competitive advantage.

However, they had no ability to hear, no ability to listen, no ability to cogitate.  The University was handmaid, with an $11 million contribution from Monsanto to the building of the shiny new Ag College on campus early-eighties.  Along with funding for research.  Crop Science ceased to be science;  there are no hallowed halls.

Appended, please find an excerpt from a 2005 posting re corrupted governance – – Devlin Kuyek’s publication in context.

It appears that Devlin still works at Grain.  I’ll let him know about what’s happening at U of S, the Court case.

– – – – – –  —

When the ball is in your court, bit it hack hard. We are all playing to win.

(Name wrote)  

Dear all,

Reading this depressing commentary satisfies the part of me that wants validation of my concerns; but again, I wonder “What’s the plan?”  Is there a plan at all? 

(Sandra, reply)

Yes, it’s guerilla warfare.  Non-violent resistance.  War that uses weapons that don’t kill. More below.

(Name wrote)  

Or are we here mainly to complain to each other, and reactively try to put minor hurdles in the way of powerful forces we don’t agree with, while they regardless continue to march on? 

(Sandra, reply)

Strategically,  we get real.  Start with understanding what this is all about.     

2016-07-08 Democracy overtaken by Corporatocracy = coup d’état. Citizens fight to regain democracy = Revolution (insurgency) . Corporatocracy fights to hold on = counter insurgency.

(Name wrote)  

Hate to have to invoke Donald Trump’s words, but we — at least I — need to see some hope of winning some victories to make this depressing talk worth our while.  Is there a list of past victories somewhere that one can look at and feel optimistic about the prospects of achieving something meaningful in the future?

(Sandra, reply)

One example is probably sufficient.   Use Monsanto.   A small part of the story will do the trick.

First, understand how the usurper works.

IBT Laboratories Scandal in the U.S. in the 1980’s.   The “independent science” required by the FDA (the Regulatory System) for licensing of products was fraught with corruption.  Bastardized science and revolving doors.  Monsanto was central.  And an investigative reporter for the Regina Leader-Post.  (Licensing in the U.S. automatically meant licensing in Canada.)  At least one, if not more, Monsanto head haunchos went to jail.

IBT was just a setback.  Monsanto did not change its stripes.   The battle against has been relentless and international in scope.

Tools like the March Against Monsanto-Bayer   have been critical to awareness.   The Facebook pages have been wonderful for self-education, hence empowerment.

The following are related to use of the Courts.  Every one of the TRIALS against Monsanto represent a huge effort by citizens, people working together.  Hundreds of thousands of dollars have to be raised,  for an uncertain outcome.

There is a decent list of skimmable court cases involving Monsanto, covering a range of offences:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto_legal_cases)

– – – – – – – – –

The 2002 Washington Post article arising from a trial,  still chills me.

2002-01-01 Monsanto Hid Decades Of Pollution, Washington Post (PCB’s, Anniston, Alabama. “No one was ever told”)

– – – – – – – –

Two very good videos in this coverage.

2017-05-16   Roundup is Not the First of Monsanto’s Legal Troubles, from Ring of Fire. (includes “Monsanto Papers”)

– – – – – – – –

2016-12-24   I wouldn’t like to wish you peace if there was no hope for it.

Continuing:

You may know the name Percy Schmeiser who Monsanto brought charges against (one of the tools in its kit of intimidation tactics).   Percy stood firm,  the case went to the Supreme Court.   Hundreds of people participated in the fund-raising that enabled Percy to carry on.   The legal bills were large.

Intervenors at the Supreme Court on Percy’s side included organizations from the U.S. and India.   Illustrates:  people are connected and organized internationally against what you at the University are currently fighting.   Percy subsequently became a player on the international stage, was invited to, and did presentations in numbers of countries.

With the advent of social media, awareness was catapulted forward by a young Mother from Utah (Tami Canal, 2013).  She started the twice annual March Against Monsanto.   Saskatoon’s march (2013) started near the Mendel Art Gallery, went across University Bridge, onto campus,  ending with addresses in front of the Admin Bldg.  People were passionate;  some had come from other Sask cities.

Wins?   Oh yes.  Monsanto is dead.  Bought out by Bayer CropScience, a serious miscalculation on Bayer’s part.  People are not as dumb and unaware as they thought.  Bayer’s share price is in serious decline.   Late last year they laid off 12,000 employees.   I would not be surprised to see the CEO go;  shareholders are angry.

(2018) vs Monsanto-now-Bayer, a Court in California  awarded Dewayne Johnson (terminal cancer) $78 million – – the “Monsanto papers” got public airing.  They knew there was nothing safe about RoundUp.   A second case against Monsanto had the same outcome ($80 million award).   (UPDATE:  The third case, $2B awarded.) There are more than 5,000 cases (UPDATE:  13,000+) in line to be heard.   Vietnam is demanding compensation from Monsanto for its people afflicted by Agent Orange.  And so on.

Guerilla warfare is not so much “straight line planning”.   It’s empowered people creating and using opportunities.   The opportunities don’t just “fall” from above, as the Monsanto example shows.   They materialize out of what’s been done and is being done.   Not just here.   You are far from alone.   It is important to know that. 

The larger view is of a dynamic and versatile organism at work to stop the poisoning of the planet.

Monsanto was a very large, very lucrative, international corporation- – big in Australia, in the U.S.. in Latin America, in Canada, in India . . ..  I suggest we focus on stamping last breaths out of it.  It is a shameful legacy of the U of S.

If you understand that this is a battle to take back democracy from the corporatocracy,  you may view Monsanto as a first round that hones our fighting skills.  The corporatocracy targeted a takeover of Universities.  That’s strategic.  They found collaborators / quislings in Government and in the Universities.   They are infiltrated into the bureaucracy.  It’s not the first time in history that it has happened.   You don’t have to go back very far.

(Name wrote)

I come from a fighting tradition where there’s no shame in running away ! in the face of imminent defeat to fight another day.

In a separate conversation last week, a colleague said we need to pick our battles.  That’s what I would like to do as well.  These kinds of high positions are always political.  Even Peter Stoicheff’s climb up to the President’s position might have seemed surprising, considering he was just a Vice Dean just two or three years before.  In the weeks after his ascendance, I learned that his son was working for Brad Wall’s Saskatchewan Party.  I don’t know how much to be concerned about that. 

(Sandra, reply)

It is important to know.  Thank-you.

(Name wrote)

We have bigger problems than who occupies the highest positions.  There are issues all over the place.  I am not convinced that even empowering our faculty colleagues will be enough to improve things.  Too many are invested in the rot.  Too many are broken from bending (to quote Leonard Cohen).  The decision process is compromised at so many levels.

(Sandra, reply)

I agree with all these points.

My question is: what is it that we can actually do that will make a difference?  

(Sandra, reply)

First, do you know the quote from Margaret Mead?   I think it is accurate and important.  Helps us understand our own power:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Second,  if you’re like me,  you have to keep reminding yourself to be creative and have fun.  It CAN actually be a lot of fun.   (Advice from a friend:   drink 3 beer, get (sex), and smoke a cigarillo – wine-tipped!)

To me,  we battle in luxury compared with the troops in WW’s one and two.   The stakes are just as high.   Blanketing the vast farmlands of the province with poisons is one of the reasons that bees (many more species of “insects”) are projected to be extinct in 2 or 3 decades.  If the pollinators go, we go, too.

The group is producing tools for all of us to USE:

• Public awareness is critical.  It’s guerilla warfare.  Our weapon against the propaganda.   All it takes, for example,  is a conversation with someone who is Unaware of the court case against the University.
• Here’s the fun part:  I choose to believe that the world is purposeful.   If I sit down beside or encounter someone I don’t know, it’s for a reason.  My job is to find the reason.  Start a conversation.   I usually start with a smile.  And then “What are your interests?”.   You won’t necessarily get into the court case, for example.  Just be intent on listening and learning something about that person.  You will find it rewarding.   You’ll be surprised by how many people know that things are wrong and need fixing.  Sometimes there’s an opening you’ll want to step into.  Don’t be shy.   I think people like people.  The conversation makes the city a nicer place to live in.
• Do you have your own email list to which you forward things like the Petition?  (UPDATE:  now closed)   Is there someone you could add to your list?  Every single one counts.   You never know how far and to whom that email will be forwarded.  Trust me on that.  I think you are unlikely to ever know which was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

May be this is the scientist in me speaking, but can we identify a minimum bunch of potentially fixable things, which if fixed, will result in meaningful change?  Can we then target a few things at a time?

(Name)

Best wishes,

Sandra

APPENDED,  CONTEXT FOR “THE REAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS”

2005-02-16 COMPREHENSIVE corrupted governance. Auditor General Sheila Fraser’s Report “Accountability of Foundations” is tip of iceberg

1. OWNERSHIP OF SEEDS

Had we not worked on Roundup Resistant Wheat (the right of Corporations to appropriate seeds, the right of Corporations to pollute the environment with herbicide-resistant plants), I would not have understood the implications of the Federal Government’s Seed Sector Review and the proposed changes to the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act.  I would not have been motivated to read the paper on the Ram’s Horn web-site, “The Real Board of Directors“, sub-title “The Construction of Biotechnology Policy in Canada, 1980-2002“, by Devlin Kuyek (86 pages).

Devlin Kuyek’s work turns the light on.  There is a section on Health Canada and the Health Research Foundations, which makes them comprehensible.  Look at Roundup Resistant wheat. How is Corporate ownership of seed achieved?

– Gut the public research function. This was done by cutting the funding to Agriculture Canada research stations and to Universities.

– Then cry loudly, “We haven’t enough money for research”, and promote “P3’s” (public-private-partnerships) as the panacea. What we discovered is that P3’s are not “Public Private Partnerships” but rather Partnerships between Big Government and Big Corporations that abuse the public interest.

John Kenneth Galbraith confirmed the P3 experience in his book, “The Economics of Innocent Fraud, Truth for our Time“, published in 2004.

“The accepted distinction between the public and the private sectors has no meaning when seriously viewed. Rhetoric, not reality.” … “As the corporate interest moves to power in what was the public sector, it serves, predictably, the corporate interest. That is its purpose.” “One obvious result has been well-justified doubt as to the quality of much present regulatory effort. There is no question but that corporate influence extends to the regulators. …”

– legislation plays a large role. The Supreme Court decision on Monsanto versus Percy Schmeiser pointed out the inadequacy of the Patent Laws of  Canada: they do not distinguish between the ownership of mechanical devices and THE OWNERSHIP OF LIFE FORMS. The Supreme Court had pointed out the inadequacy of the Legislation well before Schmeiser, in the “Harvard Mouse” decision. The Government does nothing. EXCEPT that it had passed Bills C-22 and C-91 which “put into legislation a commitment on the part of the federal government … Higher drug prices were traded off for promised increased R&D spending on pharmaceuticals, which, given trends already present at that time, would mean more R&D on biotechnology“. (p.28, “The Real Board of Directors“.)

This is where we begin to understand the role of the Health Research Foundations. The connection is not surprising, given that the chemical companies are the flip-side of the pharmaceutical companies – one owns the other. In the legislative realm, on the chemical company side (herbicide resistant seed) we have the proposed changes to the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act. On the flip-side, pharmaceutical company interests will be served by the proposed changes to the Food and Drug Act. (If the changes go through, it will be up to consumers to prove if harm has been done by pharmaceuticals jointly developed by the Companies and the Government, licensed and ostensibley “Regulated” by the Government.)

– Use public money to further a privatization agenda. Bio-technology was never debated in Parliament or in the Legislatures or mainstream media. By far the majority of Canadians are opposed to foodstuffs such as wheat that has been engineered to be resistant to herbicides.  In spite of that, “The Province established Innovation Place on the U of S campus in 1980, and has invested well over $700 million attracting agbiotech companies to Saskatoon“.  The Federal Government has invested heavily. Huge amounts of public money and public researchers are used.

The transfer of genes between species is not restricted to agricultural crops. We discussed the documentary, “Life Running Out of Control” (German documentary maker of international repute, North American premiere in Saskatatchewan this February). Tax-payers are the enablers, or the serfs, providing the money to Government, thereby to Corporations, to make this all happen.

A major tool for accomplishing this task of “moving the economy into institutions” is through the use of what I have called “Government fronts”: Agwest Biotech, Biotech Canada, Health Research Foundations and so on. The money for biotechnology is moved from the Government to an outfit called Agwest Biotech. The citizen has no way of knowing that this is a Government organization. Agwest Biotech and Biotech Canada could intervene in the Monsanto vrs Schmeiser case on the side of Monsanto, with no public outcry because the public doesn’t know and there is no Government official that one can hold accountable.  How the money is spent does not come under public scrutiny.

As you can see, it is very convenient to “move the economy into institutions”.

– – – – – – –

From: Academic Integrity via Leadnow.ca
Sent: May 3, 2019
Subject: Just one more email…

From: Academic Integrity via Leadnow.ca
Sent: May 3, 2019
Subject: Video of CBC interviews

From: Academic Integrity via Leadnow.ca
Sent: April 29, 2019
Subject: Delivery of Petition to Romanow

iui

EMAIL THREAD

From: Sandra Finley
Sent: April 9, 2019
To:  Senator Yvonne Boyer  (‘Leggett, Rod: SEN’)
Subject: RE: Health and “Plummeting insect numbers . . .”

Thanks Rod.  I’ll do that.   (INSERT:  I thought I would, but I didn’t.)

/Sandra

– – – – – – – – – – –  – – – — –

From: Leggett, Rod: SEN
Sent: April 9, 2019 6:50 AM
To: ‘Sandra Finley’
Subject: RE: Health and “Plummeting insect numbers . . .”

Thanks for your email, Sandra.

I recommend that you send this information to the members of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Forestry.

I acknowledge and thank the Algonquin Nation for welcoming myself and others onto their territory.

Nous saluons et remercions la Nation algonquine pour nous accueillir, moi et les autres, sur son territoire.

– – – – – – – – – –

From: Sandra Finley
Sent: February 18, 2019
To: Boyer, Yvonne <Yvonne.Boyer   AT   sen.parl.gc.ca>
Subject: Health and “Plummeting insect numbers . . .”

Dear Senator Yvonne Boyer,

God!  It’s good to be addressing a woman in the role of Senator!   Bless you, for all your contributions to the well-being of this country.

Concerning:  2019-02-10  Plummeting insect numbers ‘threaten collapse of nature’, The Guardian

and one of the major causes named in the research – – chemical agriculture.

The article is well written.  I checked the source report by the scientists.  It tells me the situation is urgent. 

As I see things,  it is within our control to do something about it, right now.  We don’t need an outside authority to give us license to take individual actions. 

Three excerpts from the article:

1. The analysis, published in the journal Biological Conservation, says intensive agriculture is the main driver of the declines, particularly the heavy use of pesticides.
2. “The main cause of the decline is agricultural intensification,” Sánchez-Bayo said. “That means the elimination of all trees and shrubs that normally surround the fields, so there are plain, bare fields that are treated with synthetic fertilisers and pesticides.”
3. The world must change the way it produces food,

It is within our control to shut down the schools that teach students it’s okay to poison the Planet.  It is obviously not okay.

We have been marching toward this end for 57 years, since 1962 and the publication of “Silent Spring“.

In 57 years, political and institutional leadership has taken us BACKWARDS.   I do no longer expect leadership from them.

Leadership has to come from Citizens, which is where it has been coming from anyway, for a long time.

” . . .  there is a need for an intense and global effort to halt and reverse these dreadful trends.”

GOAL,  a manageable one, easily within the reach of Canadians, although not without a fight because there is “money” at stake:

• Shut down the Agricultural Colleges and Programs that are a huge obstacle to stopping the Poisoning of the Planet.  It is well-known that they are run by the interests of the chem-biotech transnationals, some of the most corrupt corporations in the world.   Ag Colleges and Programs are TEACHING young people that it’s okay to poison the planet.  Whereas it is wrong and not to be tolerated.  If for no other reason:  Plummeting insect numbers ‘threaten collapse of nature’

There are many good programs in bio-dynamical agriculture, permaculture, or other methods of farming that are based in a healthy relationship with the Planet and with ourselves.  Provide scholarships to students;  move them into those programs.  Refuse funding to the charlatans.

It used to be that Universities were not allowed to hire their own graduates.  I assume the rule arose because of repeated bad experience: the hiring of your own students leads to incestuous, unhealthy relationships.  We need new ideas and ethics from agricultural programs in a variety of countries, including Canada.  Bring an end to the demagoguery in the Agricultural Colleges and Schools of Public Policy.  End the practice of hiring your own graduates will help break the chain of badly flawed inter-generational transfer of defective ideas.

REQUEST: 

While I and others exercise our power and ingenuity to help arrest and reverse the evident failure of Agricultural Colleges  – –

given the number of women on Senate who have been strong organizers in their communities,  there is ample capacity on Senate, working with good men, to organize a contribution to the effort.  The poisoning has to be stopped.

We have 57 years of stupidity and corruption, to un-do quickly.

A third of the agricultural chemicals sold in Canada are sold in Saskatchewan.  The U of Sask. College of Agriculture has ranked high among agricultural schools.  Not apparent by the title, this posting is about the relationship between the Administration of the University and the chem-biotech corporations:

2019-02-13 (r. 02-16) Dalhousie University and interim President. Dissent arises when there are conflicting interests.

I am stirred to action by the APPENDED input.  I think that “Jan” is representative of many people – – paralyzed by the enormity of where hubris and stupidity have landed us.

I am hopeful there are Senators who will wish to put shoulder to wheel on this one, in actions that you can know – – I don’t know what you are good at, or who you know.   We will all benefit and maybe survive along with the butterflies and other insects, if more people will do what they can to challenge the Agricultural Colleges.

I appended information about the effects of ag chemicals on the cognitive functioning of children.  And the corruption in the PMRA, Health Canada, responsible for the regulation of the chemicals.  Might be information overload, sorry.

Best wishes,

Sandra Finley

= = = = = = = = =

APPENDED

COMMENT, at bottom of  2019-02-13 (r. 02-16) Dalhousie University and interim President. Dissent arises when there are conflicting interests.

jjan jonsson says:

February 16, 2019 at 5:33 PM

I’m terrified. I think I’m paralized. I really don’t know what to do. Warm regards, Jan

Reply

Sandra Finley says:

February 17, 2019 at 10:53 AM

We’ve done amazing things before, Jan. And we can do them again. First thing is to remember how you un-terrify yourself! Get outside for a bit, in the wild, a wooded area, or by the river, or in a park. The beauty of nature will re-fortify you. You’ll come back inside with a smile on your face, and some joy in your heart.

THEN you can work out what you want to do. ONE thing. Meet a friend for coffee. Tell them that you’re afraid, and doing an action (going for coffee) helps you get back to centre and calm. Do they mind if you bounce some ideas off them?

If you’re still living in Saskatoon, you could try something around: the AgBio Dean is Mary Buhr. She is just a regular person. (306 966 4050; mary.buhr  AT  usask.ca).

Maybe you could – – – ? (ask her if she’s seen the Guardian newspaper article about plummeting numbers of insects? . . .)

Reply

Sandra Finley says:

February 17, 2019 at 10:58 AM

Jan – – you will feel stronger after you’ve asked Mary Buhr the question.
Then have coffee with your friend, again. Tell what you did and what happened. . . .

= = = = = = = = = = = =

APPENDED:

a known connection between the ag chemicals and cognitive functioning of children.

I and 3 others brought Dr. Elizabeth Guillette from Florida State University to Saskatchewan years ago, to address Regina City Council and a Saskatoon audience about unnecessary use of chemical sprays.

Guillette’s research on children in the Yaqui Valley in Mexico (two crops a year using chemical agriculture) is above reproach.  It was prompted by local women who approached her (“something is wrong with our children, Doctor.  Can you help us, we don’t know what it is?”).

Dr. Guillette and I had lots of talking time during the 3-hour drive to Saskatoon.  We covered the ground on the impact of ag chemicals on cognitive functioning.  Later, I came across other research that echoed what Dr. Guillette said;  her research is the most powerful.

(I find it weird that people believe we can spray things like hormone disruptors on other creatures and think it won’t affect ourselves – – the poisons are ingested one way and another, they accumulate, and the same processes (cell division and then specialization of function) are at work, no matter what life form you are.)

Yesterday, CBC host Anna Maria Tremonti interviewed teachers in Ontario about rising levels of unmanageable violent behavior in some very young children.  There will be numerous and complicated causes.  But I always harken back to one of them:  Dr. Guillette’s work.  Children with impaired cognitive functioning may have a hard time figuring things out.  Frustration – – lashing out in “inappropriate” ways.  No – – they don’t have the options that a healthy brain can generate.

You will not want to read all this long paste-together.  The material on cognitive functioning is near the bottom.  2008-04-13 Three studies link decreased cognitive functioning in children to chemical exposure

ANOTHER ASIDE:   My MP, Gord Johns, relied on the information provided by the PMRA saying that the bee-killing chemical had been de-registered.   I double-checked.  The next link documents how the PMRA circumvents the effort to bring about an end to the bee-killer chemical.  Which also kills hummingbirds,  which also, of course contributes to our arrival at “plummeting insect numbers threaten . . .”.

2018-05-18 Letter to my MP: No, imidacloprid has NOT been “withdrawn” in Canada. (The neonic imidacloprid (death of bees, song birds, banned in EU)).

It is within our control to shut down the schools that teach students it’s okay to poison the Planet.  It is obviously not okay.