Dear Avaazers,
18 months ago, Monsanto's vast chemical-agricultural empire was rock solid.
Now, after over 2 million of us ran 20 campaigns, with millions of signatures, messages, phone calls, stunts, advocacy meetings and media stories... the future of the 'Monsanto model' is actually in question!!
The European Union just refused to grant Monsanto a new license for its flagship product - the pesticide glyphosate. This is massive - glyphosate accounts for up to a third of all Monsanto's revenue!
"Looking to where we were in the beginning of this year and where we are now, Avaaz is indisputably the driving force of the fight for glyphosate discontinuance."
Pavel Poc, Vice-Chair of the EU Parliament's Environment Committee, and key leader of the glyphosate fight
Collage Monsanto model
This is far from over. But it's an utter game-changer for countries like Germany, France and Italy to challenge the basis of Monsanto's entire business model.
Avaaz delivers glyphosate petition at the EU parliament
Avaaz petition delivered to European Parliament
We haven't been knee-jerk anti-pesticide. Our campaign calls for a suspension until independent science determines the safety of glyphosate. We'll keep fighting, but if the EU allows 18 months for a new scientific process to weigh in, and we can ensure that process is truly independent, we could win this!!
We can also use the next 18 months to focus scrutiny on the global environmental impact of the Monsanto model, which is turning the surface of our planet into strange, toxic "biodeserts" where only one genetically modified Monsanto crop can grow.
Like with climate change and the Paris agreement, Avaaz has mobilised people on this issue at an unprecedented scale - we've taken the fight against Monsanto to a whole new level, and now it's up to all of us, over the next 18 months, to win it.
First big oil, now Monsanto. We are taking on the dragons of our world. But if we stick together, and choose to believe and act, we can do anything.
With hope and determination,
Ricken, Alice, Bert, Pascal and the whole Avaaz team
PS - For more detail on all the tactics, meetings, and story of Avaaz's glyphosate campaigning in the last year, here's a summary.
Avaaz.org is a 44-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ("Avaaz" means "voice" or "song" in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 18 countries on 6 continents and operates in 17 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
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Monsanto in bother
Moderator: Peak Moderation
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woodburner
- Posts: 4124
- Joined: 06 Apr 2009, 22:45
Monsanto in bother
The start of some good news maybe?
To become an extremist, hang around with people you agree with. Cass Sunstein
Yes, they are quite likely to renew their license, however, a 45 day consultation has begun on what should go on the label of glyphosate.
This is important. At the moment the label (prescribitive requirement) needs to show that it damages eyes (eyedam1 H318) and toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects H411)
The consultation proposes that it be given an official harmonised classification of all the above and a STOT RE 2 H373, which is a single target organ toxicity through repeated exposure.
If the STOT RE2 makes it on to the label this will cause considerable difficulties for the producers of this chemical, as jurisprudentially this leads into many other areas of regulatory hurdles, such as waste, public access to safety data sheets, health assessments for workers and public, monitoring etc.
So if anyone has information about glyphosate they have read, especially, toxicological, then submit it to the consultation.
http://echa.europa.eu
This is important. At the moment the label (prescribitive requirement) needs to show that it damages eyes (eyedam1 H318) and toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects H411)
The consultation proposes that it be given an official harmonised classification of all the above and a STOT RE 2 H373, which is a single target organ toxicity through repeated exposure.
If the STOT RE2 makes it on to the label this will cause considerable difficulties for the producers of this chemical, as jurisprudentially this leads into many other areas of regulatory hurdles, such as waste, public access to safety data sheets, health assessments for workers and public, monitoring etc.
So if anyone has information about glyphosate they have read, especially, toxicological, then submit it to the consultation.
http://echa.europa.eu
A goat with two heads, eight-legged pigs and a puppy born with a TRUNK: Shock photos of the mutant beasts with bizarre deformities 'caused by GM pesticides':
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... cides.html
(Warning, the pictures are fairly grim......)
They look like something from a horror movie - a black dog with a mini trunk protruding from its nose. The baby yellow chick with not two but four feet, the spider piglet with one head, two bodies and eight legs, the goat with two heads and the baby pig with skin so wafer thin you can see the muscles and blood flowing around its body. These are just of a few of the mutant animals found living in Argentina and exactly why is something of a mystery. Pig farmer Ademaro Valadez Vasquez told how the piglet with the paper skin was born, but died just a few hours later. 'When it was alive you could see the blood flowing around its body, and things moving inside its body,' he said.
The piglet with the see through skin was born just a few miles away from the black dog nicknamed 'Dobby' after the house elf from the Harry Potter films. Pictures of the black freak puppy that has a trunk for a nose went viral in the days after he was born in 2014. Owner Eduardo Landin said he was shocked when he noticed that one of his new puppies appeared to have a trunk instead of a nose. Eduardo, 35, said: 'It was kind of similar but also shockingly different to the other puppies, so I realised it was in some way deformed and at first I thought it was dead. 'But then I saw it moving and trying to feed, so I helped it over to the mother and it managed to drink something but it's nose kept getting in the way.' He said that the deformed puppy was one of a litter of 11 and was the only one that was not normal. He added: 'I was amazed at how quickly word spread and loads of people are coming round to look at the tiny puppy, and take pictures and videos. 'One of the children that came round said it looked like a character from the Harry Potter movie and that's what everyone is calling it in the local media here. He went on: 'I am worried if there might be something in the air or the soil or water causing this as we only live 15 kilometres (9 miles) away from the village where the last mutant was born that looked like that Potter character. One of the pigs in my litter was normal, but the other was a mutant freak.'' Both the puppy and the piglet were born in or near the village of Pampa de los Guanacos in the Copa area of the Santiago del Estero Province, in northern Argentina. At the time local media said that the deformation was due to the use of pesticides on farmland in the region although they admitted they had never seen anything similar before.
Eduardo said: 'We have had a few calls from people telling us it's evil and we need to kill it and burn the body. But that's just superstition talking, it is a mutation but it isn't evil.'
And in nearby Aldea San Juan a pig was born with two bodies, and one head but with two snouts joined together. In the same week a cow with two heads and six legs was born in the same region and a chick hatched with four legs. In a separate case in the city of Riohacha, a city in the in the northern Caribbean Region of Colombia, a piglet was born looking like a human. And in yet another bizarre case a piglet was born with a head shaped like an elephant and deformed eyes and no hair. Born in the northern Province of Tucuman, it was nicknamed the 'Elephant Piglet' because of its small trunk-like 'nose'. The farmer Juan Francisco Vazquez was surprised to discovered the bizarre birth on their farm. The piglet was reportedly the fourth to be born in a litter of 12 and died soon afterwards – after it's mother bit it to death.
He said: 'We had a dozen piglets but the fourth born was badly deformed. Its mother bit into it until it died. That shocked me. 'I am not sure if this was because the mother did not recognise it as her, or because her instincts (knowing that it would not survive) made her do it.' And in a separate case a goat was born with two snouts, no eyes, no ears, without a tail and hairless. And while at first locals blamed superstitious spirits for the mutations, blame has shifted to the widespread use of the harsh chemical glyphosate which is used as a pesticide. Mr Vasquez, the farmer with the skinless piglet, said: 'Some superstitious people around here say it was down to the legend of Almamula. 'Local legend says that Almamula was a woman with no morals who committed incest with her brother and father. She was turned into a donkey and now walks around at night making a strange noise, with an iron chain attached to her leg. 'But I think its probably chemicals. I want tests done, the local government should investigate.' Argentina is the world's biggest user of the controversial product, which kills all non-genetically modified (GM) crops. The country supplies GM soya beans that are fed to animals in the UK, and cotton that is used in the manufacture of everything from T-shirts through to tampons.
EU policy makers are considering banning the harmful chemical which is known to cause serious birth defects in both animals and humans. Around 12 million Argentines live in regions where soya beans are cultivated, surrounded by the fields where glyphosate is sprayed, which are dubbed 'pueblos fumigados' or sprayed villages, says paediatrician, Dr Medardo Avila Vazquez. He said the numbers of deformations had quadrupled from in nine years to 2008 as cultivation of soya beans in the province increased seven fold.
A Danish farmer who changed his pig feed from non-GM soya to the cheaper GM soya pig feed found the number of birth defects suddenly increased. He had a piglet born with only one large eye, a second with a hole in its skull, and one with a huge 'elephant tongue' and a female piglet with testicles. Silvana Bujan, Director of Environmentalist NGO Bios Argentina, told MailOnline: 'There is sufficient scientific evidence in Argentina and the rest of the world that proves with absolute certainty the damage the herbicide does to our eco-system and to the health of humans and animals when used intensively in the production of food. 'There is evidence that the change from pasture goods to genetically-modified soya, as well as the traces in the air, water and grasses that they ingest, could well be one of the decisive factors in the hormonal and genetic changes of the animals.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... cides.html
(Warning, the pictures are fairly grim......)
They look like something from a horror movie - a black dog with a mini trunk protruding from its nose. The baby yellow chick with not two but four feet, the spider piglet with one head, two bodies and eight legs, the goat with two heads and the baby pig with skin so wafer thin you can see the muscles and blood flowing around its body. These are just of a few of the mutant animals found living in Argentina and exactly why is something of a mystery. Pig farmer Ademaro Valadez Vasquez told how the piglet with the paper skin was born, but died just a few hours later. 'When it was alive you could see the blood flowing around its body, and things moving inside its body,' he said.
The piglet with the see through skin was born just a few miles away from the black dog nicknamed 'Dobby' after the house elf from the Harry Potter films. Pictures of the black freak puppy that has a trunk for a nose went viral in the days after he was born in 2014. Owner Eduardo Landin said he was shocked when he noticed that one of his new puppies appeared to have a trunk instead of a nose. Eduardo, 35, said: 'It was kind of similar but also shockingly different to the other puppies, so I realised it was in some way deformed and at first I thought it was dead. 'But then I saw it moving and trying to feed, so I helped it over to the mother and it managed to drink something but it's nose kept getting in the way.' He said that the deformed puppy was one of a litter of 11 and was the only one that was not normal. He added: 'I was amazed at how quickly word spread and loads of people are coming round to look at the tiny puppy, and take pictures and videos. 'One of the children that came round said it looked like a character from the Harry Potter movie and that's what everyone is calling it in the local media here. He went on: 'I am worried if there might be something in the air or the soil or water causing this as we only live 15 kilometres (9 miles) away from the village where the last mutant was born that looked like that Potter character. One of the pigs in my litter was normal, but the other was a mutant freak.'' Both the puppy and the piglet were born in or near the village of Pampa de los Guanacos in the Copa area of the Santiago del Estero Province, in northern Argentina. At the time local media said that the deformation was due to the use of pesticides on farmland in the region although they admitted they had never seen anything similar before.
Eduardo said: 'We have had a few calls from people telling us it's evil and we need to kill it and burn the body. But that's just superstition talking, it is a mutation but it isn't evil.'
And in nearby Aldea San Juan a pig was born with two bodies, and one head but with two snouts joined together. In the same week a cow with two heads and six legs was born in the same region and a chick hatched with four legs. In a separate case in the city of Riohacha, a city in the in the northern Caribbean Region of Colombia, a piglet was born looking like a human. And in yet another bizarre case a piglet was born with a head shaped like an elephant and deformed eyes and no hair. Born in the northern Province of Tucuman, it was nicknamed the 'Elephant Piglet' because of its small trunk-like 'nose'. The farmer Juan Francisco Vazquez was surprised to discovered the bizarre birth on their farm. The piglet was reportedly the fourth to be born in a litter of 12 and died soon afterwards – after it's mother bit it to death.
He said: 'We had a dozen piglets but the fourth born was badly deformed. Its mother bit into it until it died. That shocked me. 'I am not sure if this was because the mother did not recognise it as her, or because her instincts (knowing that it would not survive) made her do it.' And in a separate case a goat was born with two snouts, no eyes, no ears, without a tail and hairless. And while at first locals blamed superstitious spirits for the mutations, blame has shifted to the widespread use of the harsh chemical glyphosate which is used as a pesticide. Mr Vasquez, the farmer with the skinless piglet, said: 'Some superstitious people around here say it was down to the legend of Almamula. 'Local legend says that Almamula was a woman with no morals who committed incest with her brother and father. She was turned into a donkey and now walks around at night making a strange noise, with an iron chain attached to her leg. 'But I think its probably chemicals. I want tests done, the local government should investigate.' Argentina is the world's biggest user of the controversial product, which kills all non-genetically modified (GM) crops. The country supplies GM soya beans that are fed to animals in the UK, and cotton that is used in the manufacture of everything from T-shirts through to tampons.
EU policy makers are considering banning the harmful chemical which is known to cause serious birth defects in both animals and humans. Around 12 million Argentines live in regions where soya beans are cultivated, surrounded by the fields where glyphosate is sprayed, which are dubbed 'pueblos fumigados' or sprayed villages, says paediatrician, Dr Medardo Avila Vazquez. He said the numbers of deformations had quadrupled from in nine years to 2008 as cultivation of soya beans in the province increased seven fold.
A Danish farmer who changed his pig feed from non-GM soya to the cheaper GM soya pig feed found the number of birth defects suddenly increased. He had a piglet born with only one large eye, a second with a hole in its skull, and one with a huge 'elephant tongue' and a female piglet with testicles. Silvana Bujan, Director of Environmentalist NGO Bios Argentina, told MailOnline: 'There is sufficient scientific evidence in Argentina and the rest of the world that proves with absolute certainty the damage the herbicide does to our eco-system and to the health of humans and animals when used intensively in the production of food. 'There is evidence that the change from pasture goods to genetically-modified soya, as well as the traces in the air, water and grasses that they ingest, could well be one of the decisive factors in the hormonal and genetic changes of the animals.'
Another article from the US.....
Glyphosate weed killer unleashes grotesque chemical deformations in farm animals... two-headed calves, pigs born with no skin, twisted life forms seem spawned from Hell...
http://www.naturalnews.com/054129_glyph ... crops.html
Glyphosate weed killer unleashes grotesque chemical deformations in farm animals... two-headed calves, pigs born with no skin, twisted life forms seem spawned from Hell...
http://www.naturalnews.com/054129_glyph ... crops.html
Glyphosate revolt rocks Germany Inc.:
https://www.politico.eu/article/glyphos ... ders-vote/
You can't blame the Americans at Monsanto any more. Europe's most politically inflammatory chemical — the ubiquitous weedkiller glyphosate — is now well and truly a German problem. Shareholders of the German chemical giant Bayer staged a full-blown revolt at a heated 13-hour meeting in Bonn on Friday, arguing that the management failed to see the company was inheriting a raft of nightmarish litigation associated with glyphosate when it bought U.S. agrichemical giant Monsanto for $66 billion last year.
The investors are furious that a blue-riband European company is now potentially exposed to billions of dollars of claims over the glyphosate-based weedkiller Roundup, created by Monsanto. Two U.S. court verdicts over the past year found that the world's most popular herbicide caused cancer, hauling shares in Bayer down about 40 percent since August. Bayer has appealed those decisions but is now facing an avalanche of some 13,400 claims. Ultimately only 44.48 percent of shareholders on Friday backed the management board headed by Chief Executive Werner Baumann. While the vote has no binding power, this is a huge reversal from the 97 percent support the board won last year. Support of only 61 percent from shareholders was enough to dislodge joint chief executives at Deutsche Bank in 2015. "It is about time Bayer came to grips with the fact that they purchased Monsanto’s misconduct and, now, need to do right by the victims. It’s time to resolve these lawsuits and give Bayer shareholders confidence again in corporate leadership," said Brent Wisner, an attorney at Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, which is representing plaintiffs in the lawsuits against Monsanto.
Glyphosate is one of the most hotly debated political topics across Europe. Farmers insist it is vital to preserve yields of everything from carrots to potatoes, while environmentalists argue that it is a potential carcinogen and damages soil. The European Commission has appointed the food safety authorities in France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden to re-evaluate its safety and EU countries will vote on whether to reapprove the substance by the end of 2021. In the meantime, countries such as Germany are weighing up the best way to reduce usage. This is, however, contentious and the German agricultural and environment ministries have been at loggerheads over how fast to slash pesticide usage. “We want an EU-wide ban after the current five-year EU admission has ended. Until then, it should only be used under certain conditions in order to avoid intolerable impacts on biodiversity,� said Nikolai Fichtner, a spokesperson for the German environment ministry. The agriculture ministry said that it is working closely with the environment ministry to work out a reduction plan "in the near future."
Sound science
Bayer's management argues that the furor is unscientific and that glyphosate poses no danger. Chief Executive Baumann sought to forestall the shareholder revolt in Bonn on Friday morning by saying: "We were convinced at the time — and we are today — that glyphosate is a safe product when used as directed. That view is based on science and on the practical experience of farmers over a period of more than 40 years.� “The plaintiffs’ attorneys in the United States wrongly claim that glyphosate-based products are carcinogenic and that Monsanto knowingly exposed its customers to this risk … These really are quite incredible accusations,� he added. Chairman Werner Wenning reiterated that stance in a statement Saturday, in which Bayer’s supervisory board threw its support behind Baumann and his team. Eric Andrieu, a French Socialist lawmaker in the European Parliament, who also heads the institution's committee on pesticides, said it is hard to understand the company's position. "The fact that Bayer absorbed Monsanto while there were so many litigations ongoing in America, I don't understand how the company did not understand what was going to happen," he said. "I absolutely understand the concern among Bayer's shareholders." Net profit at Bayer during the first quarter of 2019 fell by 36.5 percent to €1.2 billion compared to the same quarter in 2018 owing to costs linked to the Monsanto acquisition, the company announced on Thursday.
Onto the barricades
People attending the shareholder meeting said the discussions centered on widespread concern linked to the company's decision to merge with Monsanto. A representative for Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz, a leading association for private investors, told Friday's meeting that the litigation in the U.S. represents corporate risk amounting to €100 billion and questioned whether sufficient due diligence was done when acquiring Monsanto. “We as investors see Bayer as being confronted with claims for damages and a massive reputational damage, which is reflected in stock prices ... The risks for us as shareholders are already enormous and incalculable,� the representative told the annual meeting, according to a voice recording obtained by POLITICO. “The acquisition of Monsanto and the wave of lawsuits related to it heavily burden the company. Here the question arises whether due diligence was really in every respect extensively [carried out]," the person added. A Bayer employee in the audience countered the concerns saying: “I think that the entire absurdity of the process and this lawsuit industry in the U.S. receives too little attention. To question the entire deal on this basis seems quite unfair to me.� The annual meeting was also addressed by Christoph Koch, a beekeeper, who accused shareholders of contributing to a decline in bee life across Europe due to the use of pesticides. “By now we’re talking about insect deaths of a gigantic scale. You, ladies and gentlemen, have a certain stake in this." “Why is Bayer giving itself the bee-killer image?�
https://www.politico.eu/article/glyphos ... ders-vote/
You can't blame the Americans at Monsanto any more. Europe's most politically inflammatory chemical — the ubiquitous weedkiller glyphosate — is now well and truly a German problem. Shareholders of the German chemical giant Bayer staged a full-blown revolt at a heated 13-hour meeting in Bonn on Friday, arguing that the management failed to see the company was inheriting a raft of nightmarish litigation associated with glyphosate when it bought U.S. agrichemical giant Monsanto for $66 billion last year.
The investors are furious that a blue-riband European company is now potentially exposed to billions of dollars of claims over the glyphosate-based weedkiller Roundup, created by Monsanto. Two U.S. court verdicts over the past year found that the world's most popular herbicide caused cancer, hauling shares in Bayer down about 40 percent since August. Bayer has appealed those decisions but is now facing an avalanche of some 13,400 claims. Ultimately only 44.48 percent of shareholders on Friday backed the management board headed by Chief Executive Werner Baumann. While the vote has no binding power, this is a huge reversal from the 97 percent support the board won last year. Support of only 61 percent from shareholders was enough to dislodge joint chief executives at Deutsche Bank in 2015. "It is about time Bayer came to grips with the fact that they purchased Monsanto’s misconduct and, now, need to do right by the victims. It’s time to resolve these lawsuits and give Bayer shareholders confidence again in corporate leadership," said Brent Wisner, an attorney at Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, which is representing plaintiffs in the lawsuits against Monsanto.
Glyphosate is one of the most hotly debated political topics across Europe. Farmers insist it is vital to preserve yields of everything from carrots to potatoes, while environmentalists argue that it is a potential carcinogen and damages soil. The European Commission has appointed the food safety authorities in France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden to re-evaluate its safety and EU countries will vote on whether to reapprove the substance by the end of 2021. In the meantime, countries such as Germany are weighing up the best way to reduce usage. This is, however, contentious and the German agricultural and environment ministries have been at loggerheads over how fast to slash pesticide usage. “We want an EU-wide ban after the current five-year EU admission has ended. Until then, it should only be used under certain conditions in order to avoid intolerable impacts on biodiversity,� said Nikolai Fichtner, a spokesperson for the German environment ministry. The agriculture ministry said that it is working closely with the environment ministry to work out a reduction plan "in the near future."
Sound science
Bayer's management argues that the furor is unscientific and that glyphosate poses no danger. Chief Executive Baumann sought to forestall the shareholder revolt in Bonn on Friday morning by saying: "We were convinced at the time — and we are today — that glyphosate is a safe product when used as directed. That view is based on science and on the practical experience of farmers over a period of more than 40 years.� “The plaintiffs’ attorneys in the United States wrongly claim that glyphosate-based products are carcinogenic and that Monsanto knowingly exposed its customers to this risk … These really are quite incredible accusations,� he added. Chairman Werner Wenning reiterated that stance in a statement Saturday, in which Bayer’s supervisory board threw its support behind Baumann and his team. Eric Andrieu, a French Socialist lawmaker in the European Parliament, who also heads the institution's committee on pesticides, said it is hard to understand the company's position. "The fact that Bayer absorbed Monsanto while there were so many litigations ongoing in America, I don't understand how the company did not understand what was going to happen," he said. "I absolutely understand the concern among Bayer's shareholders." Net profit at Bayer during the first quarter of 2019 fell by 36.5 percent to €1.2 billion compared to the same quarter in 2018 owing to costs linked to the Monsanto acquisition, the company announced on Thursday.
Onto the barricades
People attending the shareholder meeting said the discussions centered on widespread concern linked to the company's decision to merge with Monsanto. A representative for Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz, a leading association for private investors, told Friday's meeting that the litigation in the U.S. represents corporate risk amounting to €100 billion and questioned whether sufficient due diligence was done when acquiring Monsanto. “We as investors see Bayer as being confronted with claims for damages and a massive reputational damage, which is reflected in stock prices ... The risks for us as shareholders are already enormous and incalculable,� the representative told the annual meeting, according to a voice recording obtained by POLITICO. “The acquisition of Monsanto and the wave of lawsuits related to it heavily burden the company. Here the question arises whether due diligence was really in every respect extensively [carried out]," the person added. A Bayer employee in the audience countered the concerns saying: “I think that the entire absurdity of the process and this lawsuit industry in the U.S. receives too little attention. To question the entire deal on this basis seems quite unfair to me.� The annual meeting was also addressed by Christoph Koch, a beekeeper, who accused shareholders of contributing to a decline in bee life across Europe due to the use of pesticides. “By now we’re talking about insect deaths of a gigantic scale. You, ladies and gentlemen, have a certain stake in this." “Why is Bayer giving itself the bee-killer image?�
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