German pharmaceutical giant Bayer is hiring an outside law firm to review claims circulating in the French media that its seed firm, Monsanto, compiled illegal lists of influential journalists and lawmakers.

Bayer, who acquired the controversial agrochemical business last year, said on Sunday that the decision to commission the independent review came after its own internal investigation into the matter. It added that it understood the concerns raised over the week.

“This is not the way Bayer seeks dialogue with society and stakeholders. We apologize for this behavior,” the company said. However, it maintained that in the company’s eyes, there was nothing illicit about the way such lists were compiled.

The complaint that Monsanto had illegally compiled a dossier of influential journalists, media publications, and politicians was initially made by the French daily, “Le Monde”. The paper said one of its journalists was among 200 names on the dossier, who would then be targeted by Monsanto lobbyists in a bid to sway their views on glyphosate-based herbicides. A complaint was then made to French police under the charge that the list of personal information was made “by fraudulent, unfair or illicit means.”

The French investigation is the latest in a string of legal woes inherited by “Bayer”, who have seen their share value plummet by almost 40 percent since taking over Monsanto.

German pharmaceutical firm Bayer lost 6.8 percent on share value in trading Tuesday after a US jury awarded a couple from California $2.055 billion in punitive damages for failure to warn of cancer risks of its Roundup herbicide.

According to Monday’s ruling, Roundup weed killer was liable for causing cancer, while US agrochemical firm Monsanto, acquired by Bayer last June, failed to inform consumers about the potential risks. Glyphosate, the basic component in Roundup, was found to be the cause of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in both Alva and Alberta Pilliod.

The jury awarded $18 million in compensatory and $1 billion in punitive damages to Pilliod, while his wife will get another $37 million in compensatory and $1 billion in punitive damages. The couple has reportedly used the herbicide since the 1970s.

The case marks the third verdict delivered against Roundup since August 2018. Since acquiring Monsanto in a $63 billion deal, Bayer has inherited thausand of lawsuits over the weed killer. The corporation has repeatedly defended the controversial product, claiming that scientific evidence supports Monsanto’s position that glyphosate-based herbicides are not carcinogenic.

The 46-year-old Dewayne Johnson was the first to win the trial. He was diagnosed with end-stage lymphoma and has accused Monsanto of concealing the risks of his weed killer. The jury agreed.

Dewayne Johnson was the first cancer victim to take the company to court. The San Francisco groundskeeper was awarded $289 million, as the court ruled that the popular herbicide was responsible for his lymphoma. While the award was reduced to $78 million on appeal, it opened the floodgates for thousands of similar cases, and there are more than 11,200 such lawsuits currently pending against the German agrochemical conglomerate.

Bayer’s spokesman called the latest decision “excessive and unjustifiable,” saying that the company would appeal the verdict.

“Monsanto? One floor lower…”

https://www.rt.com/business/459296-bayer-stock-lowest-california-ruling/

My comment: Fuck you Monsanto !!!!! The only thing you have ever been able to give this planet is death, destruction, suffering for humans and animals.

I hope those who serve you will find a miserable death, and because it is so beautiful in hell, take away the corrupt politicians with you!

My best regards, Venus

https://www.amazonfrontlines.org/chronicles/waoresist-photo-essay/ 

For the Waorani people, life begins in the forest (omere) and everything important in life has a song.

Here, at the edge of a waterfall near the village of Nemonpare, a group of Waorani sing about waimo epe, beautiful water, before traversing down the forested canyon to the base of the falls.

‘Is the microphone really on?’: watch Greta Thunberg address UK MPs

Greta Thunberg (born 3 January 2003) is a school girl in Sweden who, at age 15, began protesting about the need for immediate action to combat climate change outside the Swedish parliament and has since become an outspoken climate activist.^[1][2][3][4] She is known for having initiated the school strike for climate movement that formed in November 2018 and surged globally after the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP24) in December the same year. Her personal activism began in August 2018, when her recurring and solitary Skolstrejk för klimatet (“School strike for the climate”) protesting outside the Swedish parliament in Stockholm began attracting media coverage.

On 15 March 2019, an estimated 1.4 million students in 112 countries around the world joined her call in the striking and protesting. Another event is scheduled for 24 May 2019.

Thunberg has received various prizes and awards for her activism. In March 2019, three members of the Norwegian parliament nominated Thunberg for the Nobel Peace Prize.

She recently visited London and addressed Members of Parliament.

See her speech here:

Dear Mark,

Great news out of Oregon!

Thanks to your help—as well as that of our colleagues with Predator Defense, Oregon Wild, Audubon Society of Portland, and others—SB 580, a bill to ban cyanide devices (also known as M-44s or cyanide bombs), was signed into law earlier this week by Governor Kate Brown.

The legislation prohibits the use of deadly M-44s to kill coyotes, foxes and other wildlife in Oregon.

This victory in Oregon—following bans in California (1998/ballot measure) and Washington (2000/ballot measure)—sets a standard for the humane treatment of wildlife in the thirteen states that have yet to ban cyanide bombs. These cruel and senseless devices are still used for predator control in Nevada, Utah, Colorado (only on private land), Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Virginia, and West Virginia. (Idaho placed a temporary moratorium on M-44 use in 2017.)

We will continue pressing for a ban of poisons and other indiscriminate wildlife killing methods across the West, and we thank all of our supporters who spoke up for Oregon’s wildlife, people and pets—your voices made a difference!

For coexistence,

Katie Stennes
Project Coyote Programs & Communications Manager

P.S.: More good news! On Monday in California, the State Assembly passed AB 1788, which would ban deadly rodenticides, by a vote of 50 to 16—that bill now moves on to the Senate.

Nature crisis: Humans ‘threaten 1m species with extinction’

All Pictures – Getty Images.

On land, in the seas, in the sky, the devastating impact of humans on nature is laid bare in a compelling UN report.

One million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction.

Nature everywhere is declining at a speed never previously seen and our need for ever more food and energy are the main drivers.

These trends can be halted, the study says, but it will take “transformative change” in every aspect of how humans interact with nature.

Read the full BBC article and watch the video at:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-48169783

According to a recent article from Komo News, some of Seattle’s most popular restaurants are ditching chinook (king) salmon in an effort to help save critically endangered orcas.

Chinook will not be served at Vine and Spoon or Alchemy in West Seattle. The restaurant owners joined others in taking a stand after a concerned customer brought up the plight of the orcas and shared images of a mother orca grieving her dead calf and another orca struggling to survive.

Matt Mead, marketing director for Vine and Spoon, said:

The plight of the orcas right now is so tragic so important to maintain their food resource it was very simple and no-brainer to take off the king salmon from our menu to help our environment.

Declared endangered in 2005, the Southern Resident orca population has seen little recovery. In fact, more than two-thirds of these whales’ pregnancies fail, and a recent study suggests the orcas are starving because of human activity.

Overfishing of chinook salmon is believed to be the main cause of the orca population’s decline. Chinook salmon, who compose roughly 80 percent of the whales’ diet, are a critically endangered species, and overfishing is the primary reason. Popular wild-caught fish, chinook salmon were added to the list of overfished species in 2015.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published a report in 2013 warning about the impact of salmon fishing on Southern Resident orca populations. Although the report expresses uncertainty about the long-term effects, it states that ending or reducing salmon fishing would have an immediate positive impact.

Our oceans are extremely complex ecosystems, so when one species declines, others suffer. For instance, Atlantic puffins on the Shetland Islands depend on sand eels to survive. Once sand eels were overfished, puffin numbers dramatically declined. When herring is overfished, cod populations fall. Many fish species and their predators are now endangered or face extinction because of overfishing.

The best thing we can do for all marine animals is to refuse to support an industry that disrupts the balance of nature’s ecosystems and puts species at risk for extinction.

But eating seafood doesn’t just hurt orcas and other “cute” marine mammals many people value; it’s also unspeakably cruel for the innocent fish killed for food. Fish are similar to dogs and cats in their experience of pain and pleasure.

In 2011 Mercy For Animals conducted an undercover investigation at a fish slaughter facility and exposed fish being skinned alive. They thrashed and fought to escape the workers’ knives. As the fish gasped for oxygen, workers ripped off their skin with pliers.

Sounds horrifying, right? See for yourself.

Remember, the best way to protect fish and other marine animals is to leave them off your plate. Learn more about switching to a humane plant-based diet to prevent cruelty to all animals used for food. Then check out Gardein’s fishless filets and crabless cakes, and click here for compassionate sea-inspired recipes