Popular weedkiller Roundup on trial again as cancer victims demand justice

theguardian.com

Mike sitting in the living room of his Phoenix home. Contemplating what his latest biopsy results will reveal.
Mike Langford in the living room of his Phoenix home, contemplating what his latest biopsy results will reveal. Photograph: Matt Williams/The Guardian

A long list of upcoming trials complicating Bayer’s efforts to escape the costly, ongoing litigation over the health effects of Roundup

Cancer has taken an unrelenting toll on 72-year-old Mike Langford. After being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in 2007 he suffered through five recurrences despite multiple rounds of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant. Now he struggles with chemo-related neuropathy in his arms and legs, and new tests show the cancer is back.

Langford blames his cancer on his longtime use of the popular weed-killing product Roundup, which he applied countless times over decades using a backpack sprayer around his five-acre California property and a vacation lake home. He alleges in a lawsuit that Monsanto, the longtime Roundup maker now owned by the German company Bayer AG, should have warned of a cancer risk.

Last month, a San Francisco judge ruled that Langford’s health is so poor that he is entitled to a speedy hearing of his claims. A trial is set for 7 November in San Francisco county superior court.

“I’ve had it so long. I’m very angry,” Langford told the Guardian a day after doctors biopsied an enlarged lymph node. “The future doesn’t look too terribly promising,” he said, trying to hold back tears. He learned last week that the preliminary biopsy results show a return of NHL.

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As Bayer’s Roundup Cancer Costs Accumulate, Questions Linger About the Wisdom of Its Monsanto Merger

By DAVID MEYER Fortune

4:00 AM EDT

Bayer has to pay out $81 million in damages to a man who claims the Roundup weedkiller caused his cancer, a jury ruled Wednesday. In a similar ruling last year, the sum was $289 million, reduced to $78 million on appeal. Since that first verdict, Bayer’s shares have lost 40% of their value—and there are still around 11,300 such cases waiting in the wings. Tiếp tục đọc “As Bayer’s Roundup Cancer Costs Accumulate, Questions Linger About the Wisdom of Its Monsanto Merger”

Innovative solutions to help famers replant ageing coffee trees

Update: March, 28/2019 – 09:00 vnn

 

Trần Văn Nhiên (first from left), a coffee farmer in Quảng Hiệp, Cư M’Gar, Đắc Lắc Province with his cofee farm applying drip protection solution in the pilot phase, bringing healthier and taller coffee trees in comparison with curent farmer practices. — VNS Photo
Viet Nam NewsĐẮK LẮK — Coffee trees in Việt Nam are ageing and innovative technical solutions are needed to help farmers successfully replant them, a seminar, “Making use of plant protection products through drip irrigation system”, heard in Đắc Lắc Province on Wednesday. Tiếp tục đọc “Innovative solutions to help famers replant ageing coffee trees”