{"id":917,"date":"2013-05-25T21:58:11","date_gmt":"2013-05-26T01:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/?p=917"},"modified":"2013-05-25T22:10:03","modified_gmt":"2013-05-26T02:10:03","slug":"monsanto-loses-french-appeal-reconvicted-of-poisoning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/2013\/05\/monsanto-loses-french-appeal-reconvicted-of-poisoning.html","title":{"rendered":"Monsanto loses French appeal, reconvicted of poisoning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nWill we listen to\r\nFrench farmer Paul Fran\u00e7ois, who sued Monsanto for nerve damage due to inhaling\r\nLasso weedkiller, and\r\n\r\nwon last year<\/a>?\r\nMonsanto appealed, but\r\nFran\u00e7ois\r\njust won\r\n

“Farmers need to understand that those who speak for them are businessmen who defend other interests, very lucrative for the businessmen, who do not care about farmers’ health or the health of those around us.”<\/blockquote>\r\nthe appeal, too.\r\nNow the court is gauging losses to determine penalties for Monsanto.\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n\r\nThis after back in 2009 \r\nFrance convicted Monsanto of lying<\/a>\r\nabout its claims that Roundup was “biodegradable” and “left the soil clean”.\r\nAnd Argentinean tobacco farmers\r\n\r\nare suing Monsanto in New Castle County Court, Delaware<\/a>, saying\r\nMonsanto\r\n“knowingly poisoned them with herbicides and pesticides and subsequently caused \u201ddevastating birth defects\u201d in their children”.\r\nThese same Monsanto herbicides and pesticides are sprayed\r\non most fields around here, and they’re just as much\r\npoisons<\/a> here as in Argentina or France.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nPaul Fran\u00e7ois\r\n\r\nanswered questions from Pierre Penin for Sud Ouest (southwest France)<\/a>\r\n8 February 2013,\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n\u00ab Sud Ouest \u00bb : \r\nGravement malades \u00e0 cause des produits que vous utilisiez, avez-vous chang\u00e9 votre approche ?\r\n<\/strong>\r\n<\/td>\r\n\r\nSouthwest France:\r\nNow that you are gravely ill due to the products you used, have you changed your approach?\r\n<\/strong>\r\n<\/td><\/tr>\r\n
\r\nPaul Fran\u00e7ois : \r\nJe faisais partie du monde de l\u2019agriculture intensive. Je consid\u00e9rais\r\ncomme beaucoup qu\u2019on ne pouvait pas faire autrement. Je tapais\r\nsur les tenants du bio et eux tapaient sur moi. La soci\u00e9t\u00e9 civile\r\nqui demandait d\u2019autres modes de production, nous l\u2019appelions les\r\nemmerdeurs. Il y a une r\u00e9alit\u00e9 : l\u2019agriculture intensive comme on\r\nl\u2019a pratiqu\u00e9e dans les ann\u00e9es 1990 tue le sol. Quand vous faites \u00e7a,\r\nvous \u00eates perdu. Je ne parle pas de conversion au bio. Mais il faut\r\nunir nos forces pour dire que l\u2019agronomie doit primer sur la chimie.\r\n<\/td>\r\nPaul Fran\u00e7ois : \r\nI was part of the world of intensive agriculture.\r\nI thought like many that there was no other way.\r\nI saw proponents of organic agriculture as attacking me.\r\nPeople who asked for other modes of production, we called hecklers.\r\nHere’s a fact: intensive agriculture as was practiced from the 1990s\r\nkilled the soil.\r\nWhen you do that, you are lost.\r\nI’m not talking about converting to organic.\r\nBut we must join foces to say agronomy must take precedence over chemistry.\r\n<\/td><\/tr>\r\n
\r\n\r\nParleriez-vous de prise de conscience politique ?\r\n<\/strong>\r\n<\/td>\r\n\r\nWould you talk of political awareness?\r\n<\/strong>\r\n<\/td><\/tr>\r\n
\r\nMon combat m\u2019a amen\u00e9 \u00e0 une nouvelle perception des choses. J\u2019ai\r\ncompris que nous avons \u00e9t\u00e9 na\u00effs. On s\u2019est servi de nous pour\r\nd\u00e9velopper une agriculture qui ne nous ressemblait pas. On nous l\u2019a\r\nvendue, elle nous convenait. Il faut regarder ce qui se cache derri\u00e8re\r\ntoute communication. On peut produire autrement. Les agriculteurs doivent\r\ncomprendre que ceux qui parlent \u00e0 leur place sont des businessmen, qui\r\nd\u00e9fendent d\u2019autres int\u00e9r\u00eats, tr\u00e8s juteux, et ne se pr\u00e9occupent\r\npas de leur sant\u00e9 ni de celle de ceux qui nous entourent.\r\n<\/td>\r\nMy struggle has led me to a new perception. I realized that we\r\nwere naive. It served us to develop an agriculture that does\r\nnot like us. We sold it, it suited us. We have to look beyond\r\nthat sort of communication.\r\nWe can farm otherwise.\r\nFarmers need to understand that\r\nthose who speak for them are businessmen who defend other interests,\r\nvery lucrative for the businessmen,\r\nwho do not care about farmers’ health or the health of those around us.\r\n<\/td><\/tr>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nNatural Cures Not Medicine wrote 21 May 2013,\r\n\r\nMonsanto has been found guilty of chemical poisoning<\/a>,\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nA French farmer who is now disabled and unable to continue his\r\nfarming duties because of pesticide poisoning has won in court\r\nagainst Monsanto!\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nMonsanto has been found guilty of chemical poisoning! A court in\r\nLyon ruled that Monsanto’s Lasso weedkiller formula, (containing\r\nalachlor) caused Paul Francois to develop neurological damage as\r\npersistent memory loss, headaches, and stuttering during speech.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nReports say that the 47 year old farmer sued Monsanto in 2004 after\r\ninhaling the Lasso product while cleaning his sprayer tank\r\nequipment. Soon after, Francois had symptoms that prevented him from\r\nworking. The reason Monsanto is getting caught out this time is\r\nbecause the Lasso’s packaging did not have adequate warnings about\r\nthe dangers of exposure. The French court agreed with the claims and\r\nevidence presented, declaring earlier this year that “Monsanto\r\nis responsible for Paul Francois’ suffering and must entirely\r\ncompensate him.” The court is said to be looking for expert\r\nopinions on how to gauge Francois’ losses in order to determine how\r\nmuch Monsanto should be required to pay.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“It is a historic decision in so far as it is the first time\r\nthat a (pesticide) maker is found guilty of such a poisoning,”\r\nsaid Francois Lafforgue, Paul Francois’ lawyer, to Reuters.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nAccording to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),\r\nexposure to alachlor can cause damage to the liver, kidneys, spleen,\r\neyes, and could lead to the development of anemia or even cancer.\r\n(http:\/\/water.epa.gov\/drink\/contaminants\/basicinformation\/alachlor.cfm)\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nIn 2007, France banned Lasso in the country in accordance with a\r\nEuropean Union (EU) directive enacted in 2006 prohibiting the\r\nchemical from further use on crops in any member countries. Despite\r\nthe evidence shows alachlor can disrupt hormonal balance,\r\nreproductive or developmental problems, cancer, and still the\r\nchemical is still being used on crops throughout the U.S. to this\r\nvery day.\r\n<\/p>\r\n(\r\nhttp:\/\/www.pesticideinfo.org\/Detail_ChemReg.jsp?Rec_Id=PC35160<\/a>)\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nSouthwest France sounds a lot like south Georgia,\r\nexcept France found against Monsanto.\r\nMaybe it’s time for us to do the same.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

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