BREAKING! MONSANTO TRIBUNAL JUDGES' DECISIONS

Monsanto Tribunal: The Outcomes

 April 18th 2017 Food and agriculture

Today, judges delivered their legal opinion on the evidence and witness statements presented at the Monsanto Tribunal that was held in The Hague (NL) in October 2016.

The tribunal concluded that:

• Monsanto has violated human rights to food, health, a healthy environment and the freedom indispensable for independent scientific research.
• ‘ecocide’ should be recognized as a crime in international law.    
• human rights and environmental laws are undermined by corporate-friendly trade and investment regulation.

During the hearings that took place in The Hague in October 2016, judges heard testimonies from witnesses from all over the world, who testified how Monsanto has violated human rights and has committed crimes against the planet by aggressively promoting its products, lobbying politicians and attacking independent scientists.

Based on these testimonies, and considering both existing international law and ongoing legal initiatives aiming to improve the protection of human rights and the environment, the judges concluded that Monsanto has indeed infringed on the public’s rights to food, health, a healthy environment and the freedom indispensable for independent scientific research.

The Tribunal is also of the opinion that “international law should now precisely and clearly assert the protection of the environment and the crime of ecocide”. If such a crime of ecocide would be recognized in international criminal law, “the activities of Monsanto could possibly constitute a crime of ecocide”, the judges stated.

In their final conclusion, the judges highlighted the current imbalance in the international system, which offers much better protection to corporations and their financial interests (through trade and investment law including ISDS courts) than it does to human rights and the environment. It is now crucial for the UN to act on this widening gap, they warned, as “otherwise key questions will be resolved by private tribunals operating entirely outside the UN framework”.

Corporate Europe Observatory's Nina Holland welcomed the Tribunal’s outcome:

The verdict of the Monsanto Tribunal has our fullest support. Its legal opinion makes it crystal clear that corporations like Monsanto violate our right to live in a healthy environment and how they get around the international laws meant to protect people and planet.

“With the current wave of mega-mergers in the agribusiness sector, the biggest pesticide producers are becoming even more powerful. But so is our call to regulate them!

Source:  https://corporateeurope.org/food-and-agriculture/2017/04/monsanto-tribunal-outcomes 

BIG WEEK FOR CARCINOGEN GLYPHOSATE DAMAGES

MILLIONS AGAINST MONSANTO

Trouble in St. Louis?

Is it any wonder Monsanto wants to hire a journalist to help improve its image (i.e. spread false facts)? The Biotech Bully is facing a raft of bad press—again. Here’s the latest.

1. OCA, Beyond Pesticides sue Monsanto. This week, we teamed up with Beyond Pesticides to sue St. Louis, Mo.-based Monsanto in Washington, D.C. for false and misleading labeling of the company’s flagship product, Roundup herbicide.

Here’s why. The label on Monsanto’s Roundup, sold in stores like Home Depot and Walmart and online by Amazon, clearly states that the herbicide targets an enzyme “found in plants but not in people or pets.”

Not true. Studies show that the enzyme targeted by glyphosate, the key active ingredient in Roundup, is found in people and pets. So when humans and pets ingest, absorb or inhale glyphosate, it negatively affects gut bacteria, which can ultimately lead to health problems.(See page 9 of the lawsuit for a more detailed explanation of the science).

Read the press release

Read the full complaint

2. Monsanto Tribunal press conference next week. On Tuesday, April 18, the five Monsanto Tribunal judges will announce their opinions, after having spent the past six months reviewing written testimony, and the oral testimony they heard during the two-day citizens’ tribunal held in October.

Will the judges decide that Monsanto has violated the right to food, health, a healthy environment and scientific freedom? Will they conclude that these violations represent a new crime—ecocide?

OCA will report on the judges’ opinions live from The Hague, Netherlands. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and twitter for live updates and interviews with the judges. You can also livestream the press conference, which will start at 6 a.m. PST, 9 a.m. EST (3 p.m. in the Netherlands).

Livestream the Monsanto Tribunal press conference on April 18

3. Call for Congressional investigation heats up. Last week we reported on how a visit to a town hall meeting led to a letter by Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, to Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), chair of the same committee, asking for an investigation into possible collusion between Monsanto and the EPA.

This week we urged all Oregonians to attend Walden’s town hall meetings, being held this week in six Oregon cities, to push him on Pallone’s request.

Pallone gave Walden until April 14 to respond “yes” or “no” to the investigation—so let’s keep up the pressure!

(Everyone) Call Rep. Greg Walden:
(202) 225-6730 Tweet him @RepGregWalden

Is your Congress Member on the Energy and Commerce Committee? Find out, then call and tweet!

TAKE ACTION: Demand Congress investigate the collusion between Monsanto and the EPA to bury the truth about Roundup herbicide!