Ahh, the world of spin doctors and lobbyists. When I was a child, I quickly learned that the fairytale about Alice in Wonderland was just that, a fairytale. But one of Monsanto’s PR partners, the American Council on Science and Health, would have you believe that such diverse toxins as glyphosate, diesel exhaust and tobacco smoke aren’t harmful. Now that is what I would call a fairytale!
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup weed killer and a suspected carcinogen. In fact, a jury last year awarded a former groundskeeper $289 million after finding the dangerous chemical caused his deadly non Hodgkins Lymphoma.
An article posted today by the U.S. Right to Know coalition examined who is behind the American Council on Science and Health (the “Council”). Their findings shouldn’t shock you.
Gregory Kabat PhD is a member of the board of scientific advisors of the Council. He is also a well known cancer epidemiologist who they say argues that the risks of environmental exposure to toxic chemicals “are greatly overblown.”
Is the Council a truly independent group that just happens to side with Monsanto? “NO!” say the Right to Know folks. After the International Agency for Cancer Research found that glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen, they say the Council partnered with Monsanto. That’s right, partnered with them.
And where does the Council get its funding? From our three favorite industries… big pharma, tobacco and chemical companies.
The Council says its goal is to debunk junk science but its big funders have been companies such as Chevron, Bayer (parent of Monsanto), British American Tobacco, Bristol Myers Squibb, Phillips Morris Foundation and yes, Monsanto.
Documents discovered during litigation include a 2015 Monsanto PR plan that names the Genetic Literacy Project as its “industry partner”. What does the Council have to do with the Genetic Literacy Project? Our “friend” Dr. Kabat is on the board of the Project’s parent organization.
Quoting from the Right to Know folks, A Monsanto PR plan (February 2015) named Genetic Literacy Project among the “industry partners” Monsanto planned to engage in its efforts to “neutralize [the] impact” of the IARC report. The goals of Monsanto’s plan were to “protect the reputation and FTO of Roundup” and “provide cover for regulatory agencies…” GLP has since posted more than 200 articles critical of the cancer agency.
One internal Monsanto email says “YOU WILL NOT GET A BETTER VALUE FOR YOUR DOLLAR than ACSH [the Council]”
Prior to working with Monsanto, they say that Dr. Kabat was working with the tobacco industry to discredit the risks of second hand smoke. He even co-authored a research paper finding that menthol cigarettes were somehow safer and didn’t contribute to esophageal cancer.
Does any of this matter? Yes, it certainly does.
Americans are bombarded with a tremendous quantity of information each day. By cloaking themselves with such labels as the “American Council on Science and Health” and not listing their major funding sources, the public can be easily misled. The public thinks they are receiving information from a legitimate and independent scientific organization. They have no idea that the manufacturers of the very products that the Council say are safe are also funding the scientists making those claims.
It is hard enough sorting through the conflicting information that is out there. That is one of the reasons we have juries. Unfortunately for those suing Monsanto, the information comes too late, they already have a particularly virulent form of cancer.
Search for Monsanto Whistleblowers
Despite our harsh words for Monsanto and its parent Bayer AG, we think most employees at Monsanto are good people stuck working for an awful company. 99% of the folks that work there aren’t scientists. We believe, however, there are a handful of employees who know the truth.
And those are the people we want to speak with, even if anonymously.
Certain types of cancer including myeloma, leukemia and lymphoma have been linked to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s roundup and RangerPro products. We want the truth of what Monsanto knows and when they found out.
If you were a Monsanto employee or worked at one of their laboratory partners and have information about the safety of their products, let us know. Even if you are afraid to give your name, tell us where to look for key evidence or send us what you can.
As we write this post, an estimated 11,000 cancer patients have claimed Roundup and similar products have caused their cancer. Are 100% of those claims accurate? Probably not but we believe many of them are and each day that goes by with inaccurate warning labels and incomplete safety information means that someone else will contract the silent killer.
For years we brought claims on behalf of the United States. Whistleblower claims alleging that companies or individuals were ripping off taxpayers. We still make those claims. But after watching big pharma and big chemical companies literally get away with murder, we decided to roll up our sleeves and help out farmers, groundskeepers, gardeners and others who regularly use Roundup. We also want to help cancer victims.
If you have inside information you can help us. More importantly, you can help the public. We believe that somewhere there is a smoking gun memo or a former Monsanto employee who knows of a study linking glyphosate to harmful health effects. And those health effects may not be limited to non-Hodgkins lymphoma or myeloma. We have no idea just how harmful these potent weed killers are. (We bet they are not as safe as table salt as Monsanto once declared.)
If you want to speak with us or send us documents, you can find us at *protected email* or by phone at 414-704-6731 (direct).
Special Note for Victims of Cancer
As you probably can tell, we build our cases from the inside out. That makes us unique in the area of law called products liability. No late night TV informercials. No pay per click advertising. We still solicit one case at a time.
If you were exposed to Monsanto’s Roundup or other similar herbicides and have been diagnosed with non Hodgkins lymphoma, myeloma or leukemia, give us a call. We also invite you to visit our short video for cancer patients and our Roundup exposure lawsuit information page.
We can be contacted online, by email *protected email* or by phone at 414-704-6731 (direct).
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