Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, has recently broken its winning trial record with a number of jury verdicts against it.

Bayer’s Monsanto was ordered to pay more than $1.5 billion Friday over claims its patented weed-killer, Roundup, was linked to users’ cancer, Bloomberg reported.

James Draeger, Valerie Gunther and Dan Anderson were each awarded a total of $61.1 million in actual damages and $500 million each in punitive damages by jurors in state court in Jefferson City, Missouri.

The three people alleged that their non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas — a type of cancer that begins in your lymphatic system, part of the body’s immune system — were caused by years of using Roundup while gardening.

  • lennybird@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    7 months ago

    Well hey, fair enough! For fun, can I challenge you on that notion? Screenshot of diploma w/ username? 😁

    • feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world
      2·
      7 months ago

      I’m at work - I actually do have a photo of the certificate on my phone but as you point out, that could be anybody’s. I know it must seem incredibly convenient, particularly considering the added relevance of my first degree. But I wouldn’t have bothered weighing in otherwise, so there’s a huge selection bias at play. I also managed an organic vegetable farm for three years, which I can’t prove either.

      • lennybird@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        7 months ago

        Well if you feel comfortable and get around to it, that would boost some ethos. On the other hand I understand that may not be the most comfortable thing to do on the internet as I’m not sure I would share my engineering degree either.

      • zazo@lemmy.world
        1·
        7 months ago

        On the topic of organic farming, what’s your opinion on herbicide free permaculture gardening? In a small scale distributed model I don’t see why glycolphosphate would be needed if weeds are just part of the landscape.

        • feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world
          1·
          7 months ago

          Honestly, I’ve never seen it work. I’ve really gone off permaculture; a lot of people talk a lot but I’ve never seen it done well. Forest gardening is in principle a nice idea with lots of merit, and elements of that can absolutely be integrated into smallholding systems. In general however organic systems rely on a massive amount of human labour, inevitably terribly paid and worked to the bone. If I sound jaded, that’s because I am!