Monsanto Ghostwriting Journal Papers, Internal Documents Reveal

Brandon Turbeville
Natural Blaze
July 9, 2018

In a powerful essay for Environmental Health News entitled “Monsanto’s Ghostwriting and Strong-arming Threaten Sound Science – And Society,” Sheldon Krimsky has blown the lid off a number of Monsanto scandals that have been buried in the mainstream corporate news per business as usual. Krimsky is a Lenore Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences and Adjunct Professor of Public Policy and Community Medicine at Tufts University. He also the co-author of a study with Carey Gillam in which the two analyzed thousands of pages of internal Monsanto documents. Their study, along with a study by Leemon McHenry, has revealed massive amounts of corruption between Monsanto and academia.

The most recent examples of that corruption can be evidenced by looking at “discovery documents” which were released under the mandate of the courts as a result of a number of product liability lawsuits filed against Monsanto. In fact, there have been thousands of lawsuits filed against the corporation with the litigants arguing that they have contracted cancer after using Roundup. The lawsuits argue that the company knew full well that its product caused cancer but actively attempted to cover it up.

In Krimsky’s own study conducted and published in the Journal of Public Health Policy (Roundup litigation discovery documents: implications for public health and journal ethics) the researchers analyzed a number of internal Monsanto documents, most of them internal Monsanto communications.

Krimsky writes,

Gillam and I found three major trends illustrating one corporation's view of science, scholarly journals, and environmental regulatory agencies.

Our first finding showed that when the scientific literature did not yield the results Monsanto desired, the company talked internally about writing its own journal articles and paying outside scientists to list their names on the documents when they were sent for publication.

Dying Man Testifies Against Monsanto This Week, First Trial On Roundup’s Link To Cancer

Brandon Turbeville
Natural Blaze

June 22, 2018

Dying Man’s Lawsuit Set to Go This Week Claims Monsanto Hid The Cancer Dangers Of Roundup For Years

A 46-year-old school groundskeeper is now at the forefront of the fight against Monsanto, despite the fact that he may not have much longer to live. Monday, June 25th marks the historic date that the terminally ill man will be in the first trial that links Monsanto’s weedkiller to cancer.

DeWayne Johnson is doing everything he can to survive but the odds are not in his favor. He has non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and 80% of his body is covered in cancerous legions.

Still, as a husband and a father in California, he is trying to stay alive long enough to at least see Monsanto be forced to reckon with the fact that one of the world’s most evil corporations is responsible for his condition.

Under California law, Johnson has the right to an expedited trial since he is a dying patient.

Johnson will be the first person to actually take Monsanto to trial over allegations that its herbicide Roundup causes cancer and that the corporation spent decades attempting to hide the fact that it is responsible for the disease.

The Guardian reported in May,

According to the court record, Johnson had a job as a groundskeeper for the Benicia unified school district where he applied numerous treatments of Monsanto’s herbicides to school properties from 2012 until at least late 2015. He was healthy and active before he got the cancer diagnosis in August 2014. In a January deposition, Johnson’s treating physician testified that more than 80% of his body was covered by lesions, and that he probably had but a few months to live. Johnson has improved since starting a new drug treatment in November but remains too weak sometimes to even speak or get out of bed, his attorneys and doctors state in court filings.

It’s OFFICIAL – Bayer Monsanto Merger Going Through Despite Anti-Trust Law

Brandon Turbeville
Natural Blaze
May 29, 2018

The US Department of Justice, once considered the office that would protect the American economy from the fatal cancer of monopoly, has now officially become the office that facilitates monopoly through legal loopholes.

It’s hard to argue with the consistency of the DOJ, though, since the office has done nothing to prevent monopolies from taking shape and has sat back and watched while Free Trade folly and fascism have grown to a level never before seen in America. At least the DOJ knows the law so, in that sense, it’s the perfect office to sell Americans down the river.

Of course, selling Americans down the river is exactly what the DOJ has done and, if the new merger between Bayer and Monsanto is any inclination, that river will be so polluted, it will be safer to drink from the water fountains at the Daichii nuclear reactor plant.

As RT reports,

The US Department of Justice has reached a settlement that would allow Bayer AG’s $66 billion takeover of Monsanto Co, requiring the German company to sell $9 billion in agricultural assets first.

The merger as initially proposed would have harmed consumers and farmers by eliminating competition, the DOJ said. However, the Trump administration is satisfied with the terms of the settlement announced Tuesday.

Dying Man's Lawsuit Claims Monsanto Hid The Cancer Dangers Of Roundup And Glyphosate For Years

Brandon Turbeville
Natural Blaze
May 24, 2018

A 46 year old school groundskeeper is now at the forefront of the fight against Monsanto, despite the fact that he may not have much longer to live. DeWayne Johnson is doing everything he can to survive but the odds are not in his favor. Still, as a husband and a father in California, he is trying to stay alive long enough to at least see Monsanto be forced to reckon with the fact that one of the world’s most evil corporations is responsible for his condition.

Already, Johnson will be the first person to actually take Monsanto to trial over allegations that its herbicide Roundup causes cancer but that the corporation spent decades attempting to hide the fact that it is responsible for the disease.

The Guardian reports,

According to the court record, Johnson had a job as a groundskeeper for the Benicia unified school district where he applied numerous treatments of Monsanto’s herbicides to school properties from 2012 until at least late 2015. He was healthy and active before he got the cancer diagnosis in August 2014. In a January deposition, Johnson’s treating physician testified that more than 80% of his body was covered by lesions, and that he probably had but a few months to live. Johnson has improved since starting a new drug treatment in November but remains too weak sometimes to even speak or get out of bed, his attorneys and doctors state in court filings.

But while Monsanto insists its chemical is safe enough to drink, Johnson’s case has received a green light from Judge Curtis Karnow who issued an order allowing jurors to consider both the scientific evidence as to what may have caused Johnson’s cancer and whether or not Monsanto supprssed that evidence. Karnow ruled that the trial will move ahead and that the jury would be allowed to consider punitive damages.

Monsanto, Big Oil Lobbies Back Smear Campaign Against Ohio Gov Candidate Dennis Kucinich

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

April 10, 2018

It seems former Ohio Candidate for Governor, Dennis Kucinich, has drawn the ire of Monsanto. Documents released by the Kucinich campaign have demonstrated a link between attack emails aimed at the candidate to two major lobbying firms and statehouse law firms that represent corporations and corporate interests that Kucinich has challenged on the campaign trail as well as during his term as Congressman.

The emails attempt to label Kucinich as a conspiracy theorist, Russian sympathizer, and Trump supporter and encourage the reader to join the writers in preventing the “dangerous” Kucinich from reaching the Governor’s office or winning the May 8 Democratic Primary.

The emails were signed by Herb Hedden of the law firm Vorys Sater and John Gilligan of ICE Miller and were sent statewide last week.

Interestingly enough, Vorys Sater represents Monsanto as well as various oil and insurance interests who stand to lose if Kucinich’s plan to ban fracking and create a system of not-for-profit public health care in the state is enacted. Kucinich has long criticized Monsanto for its food health and safety record and Kucinich’s wife, Elizabeth, has been even more vocal against GMOs and unsustainable farming.

EPA Relaxed Dicamba Regulations Following Monsanto Research, Records Show

Brandon Turbeville
Natural Blaze
March 28, 2018

In case anyone might be surprised to learn that the EPA eased regulations on the toxic and volatile herbicide Dicamba after receiving industry research from Monsanto, reports are surfacing that the government agency did just that. Indeed, the agency weakened protections the agency itself set for crops and wildlife habitats after Monsanto presented its own research that showed lower estimates of how far the chemical can drift.

In short, the research that Monsanto provided to the EPA and that the EPA based its revised decisions upon is in conflict with research that was conducted by independent researchers and organizations. No surprise there.

As Johnathan Hettinger writes for Sustainable Pulse and Investigate Midwest,

“The EPA expects that exposure will remain confined to the dicamba (DGA) treated field,” the agency wrote in the final registration approving the use of dicamba in November 2016.

However, drift from dicamba damaged more than 3.6 million acres of soybeans in 2017, according to data from Kevin Bradley, a professor at the University of Missouri.

The drift also allegedly damaged oak trees, wildlife habitats, and other crops, such as vineyards, across the Midwest and South, according to news reports, environmental groups, and complaints filed with state agencies.

Monsanto submitted its research after the U.S. EPA proposed in March 2016 an all-directional buffer zone for dicamba to help protect other crops and wildlife habitats for endangered species. After considering the information, the agency decided to reduce the buffer zone to only a downwind buffer zone, meaning spraying limitations only applied to the downwind edge of a field.

Monsanto Sues Avaaz For Identity Of 2 Million Anti-GM Activists, But Whose Side Is Avaaz On?

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

February 20, 2018

SPECIAL REPORT By Brandon Turbeville, Natural Blaze

George Soros and Monsanto are battling it out.

And the only people who are going to lose are activists and consumers.

This is because Avaaz, often labeled the worlds most “biggest and powerful activist network” in existence online, is being dragged into court by Monsanto. The organization has received a 168-page court subpoena in which Monsanto is demanding Avaaz “hand over every private email, note, or record it has regarding Monsanto, including the names and email addresses of all of those who have signed Monsanto campaigns. These include Avaaz’s petition calling for a moratorium on glyphosate, which has attracted over 2 million signatures,” according to GM Watch.

Now Avaaz is fundraising allegedly in order to fight the subpoena.

Avaaz points out that Monsanto has “unlimited resources” and states that,

If they get their hands on all our private information, there’s no telling what they’ll use it for. So we’re going to fight this. Because Monsanto may have unlimited resources to intimidate, but Avaaz has unlimited people power, and our members just aren’t afraid.

The subpoena actually came about as a result of a class-action lawsuit on the part of people suing Monsanto claiming that Roundup, the company’s famous herbicide, caused non-hodgkin’s lymphoma in themselves or their family.

The Monsanto Cover-Up – “Decades Of Deceptive Tactics To Make Billions Of Dollars”

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

February 13, 2018

Monsanto and human health have never had a good relationship. Despite having been involved in the creation and application of Agent Orange resulting in the deaths and lifelong crippling effects to many American and Vietnamese people and the environment, the corporation did not hang its head in shame but instead rose to become dominant over America’s food supply.

Aside from GMOs themselves, perhaps the biggest danger of human help has been the introduction of glyphosate as a pesticide. Now ubiquitous in the United States, it has been known since the 1980s that the weedkiller can also cause cancer in humans and was even determined a carcinogen by the EPA in 1995. But in 2001, the EPA changed its mind, no longer designated it as a carcinogen and even hid the study data that contradicted the EPA’s new position. This is because Monsanto argued for protection under the trade secret rule.

Virtually a no-go topic in the Western mainstream media, RT (labeled by corporatists and warmongers as “scary Russian propaganda”) sat down to interview Carey Gillam, author of White Wash: The Story of a Weedkiller, Cancer and the Corruption of Science.

Austria A Step Away From Banning Glyphosate

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

December 19, 2017

Austria is one step closer to banning glyphosate at the national level.

The Austrian People’s Party and the Freedom Party of Austria have both announced that they are seeking a national ban on the active ingredient in the world’s most ubiquitous herbicides. This is significant because the two parties are about to form a new government in Austria.

Sebastian Kurz, the future Austrian Chancellor, has stated that he wants to phase out glyphosate of the entire country.

Environmental organizations are praising the move as Kurz has also stated that he wants to orient Austria to France and Italy which also is witnessing a movement to ban glyphosate at the national level.

At the state level, Carinthia and Tyrol are looking at banning the herbicide.

Minister of Agriculture, Christian Benger, has said, “We have found a way to ban glyphosate in Carinthia. The agricultural department has formulated an appropriate regulation under the plant protection Act.”

Burkina Faso Ends Relationship With Monsanto After Cotton Crop Failure

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

December 18, 2017

In yet another instance of Western and corporate imperialism, on the continent of Africa, Burkina Faso stands as yet one more example of the failure of corporate crops and the willingness of the U.S. government to act as Monsanto’s enforcement arm against weak, victim nations.

Around 10 years ago, Burkina Faso introduced GM seeds produced by Monsanto known as Bolguard II which was designed to produce its own poison and cut down on the dreaded bolworm.

For 8 years, Burkina farmers had been dealing with a major problem in terms of pestilence. The bolworms that typically attack cotton crops had become resistant to the pesticides that would kill the worms.

Monsanto had an answer for the farmers, and it was more of the same on steroids.

Bolguard II GM cotton.

By 2015, three-quarters of all Burkina Faso’s cotton production was genetically modified. But the country whose cotton was coveted the world over for its quality and luxurious sheen, was quite different when the GM harvest appeared.

Shocking Increase Of Weedkiller In People’s Bodies Found In 23 Year Study

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

November 13, 2017

As more and more scientific evidence regarding the dangers of Roundup, a weedkiller developed by Monsanto in the 1970s, is released, so too is public opinion beginning to shift away from a passive acceptance of the pervasive use of both Roundup and glyphosate.

In this context a new study published in JAMA is garnering more and more attention.

The study tracked people in Southern California over the age of 50 from 1993-96 to 2014-16, periodically collecting urine samples during that time.
A team of researchers led by Paul Mills, Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego, discovered a 500% increase in the amount of people who tested positive for glyphosate during the course of the study.

The levels themselves had spiked by 1208%.

The level to which this study demonstrates harm to humans is unclear at this time.

However, studies conducted on animals have been extremely concerning and the evidence pointing toward a connection between glyphosate and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is solid.

“From my perspective it’s remarkable that we’ve been ingesting a lot of this chemical over the last couple of decades,” says Mills.

You can read Mills’s study “Excretion of the herbicide glyphosate in older adults between 1993 and 2016” HERE.

Colonialism In Tanzania: Big Ag Invades Another Desperate Country

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

June 20, 2017

As the Western establishment continues to try and crush Syria, Venezuela, Iran and the Philippines, the empire is setting its sights on a new target which is receiving itself less attention: Tanzania.

Although not in the form of bombs and sanctions (yet), the G8 is moving to force Tanzania to accept GMOs and patented seeds under the guise of developmental assistance and aid to one of the world’s most impoverished nations. The G8 is doing so through its NAFSN (New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition) which was created in 2012. Its publicly stated goal was to end poverty for 50 million people and it is funded by the EU, U.S., UK, World Bank, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. One of its many partners in Tanzania is of course, Monsanto.

In other words, the same countries who are marching across the world and creating the largest humanitarian disasters of the 21st century are working with a global bank that has slashed, indebted and privatized countries into abject poverty. A foundation has crippled children in India and helped bring back polio and a corporation that has poisoned the food supply and the environment and destroyed the health of hundreds of millions of people. Indeed, the NAFSN is an all-star cast of prime examples of governments and organizations that no one should ever want being involved in their country.

The G8, World Bank and its “partners” has long been known to force GMOs onto hapless countries. But what they are doing to Tanzania is particularly egregious. This is because the NAFSN is not only opening Tanzania up to GMOs, it is forcing Tanzania to accept GMOs at the barrel of a gun.

The NAFSN has forced the Tanzanian government to change its agricultural laws so that GM crops are now able to be planted in the country and incredibly stiff penalties exist will be implemented for anyone who dares share the patented seeds. Individuals who violate the law will face minimum of 12 years in prison and a $230,000 fine or both.

Bayer Unleashes Army Of Re-Educated Farmers From GMO Training Program

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

March 30, 2017

Set to become the world’s largest seed technology company, if it is successful in acquiring Monsanto – Bayer’s Adrian Percy, a global head of Research and Development with Bayer, has publicly bemoaned the fact that consumers in Europe are staunchly resisting genetic engineering and even stated that he believes that the battle over GMOs in Europe is over.

“To be honest,” he said. “I think that battle is probably lost.”

Percy says that countries like France and Germany are simply not going to budge when it comes to GMOs and that there is no point in fighting it. But that doesn’t mean that Percy, Monsanto or Bayer are actually giving up. In fact, they’re simply gearing up for a new fight, this time, with more “educated” “scientists,” “farmers” and “consumers.”

The company is planning to push for a new form of genetic engineering known as gene editing. And this time, the corporation wants consumers pacified before the fight even starts.

Percy said he believes it’s critical that the scientific community get behind gene editing and other forms of genetic engineering and take the lead in advocating for the technologies to be used in Europe. There is little doubt, of course, that the legions of scientists who are getting paid by GMO seed companies to find positive results in their experiments…oops, I mean, (*Ahem) objective results.

This is despite the fact that the last time scientists and Bayer went on a propaganda spree in Europe, it ended with the deaths of millions of people in concentration camps in the second World War. But what is a few million people gassed to death between friends, eh?

Brandon Turbeville Interview With Natural Blaze - October 26, 2016 - Syria, Lebanon, GMOs, Food, And Imperialism

Brandon Turbeville
BrandonTurbeville.com
Natural Blaze
October 27, 2016

Is American Food Killing Us? Author Brandon Turbeville Talks Food and the Middle East

Heather Callaghan
Natural Blaze
October 27, 2016

Brandon Turbeville made a fascinating journey to the Middle East and lives to tell you about it. He is a geopolitical expert and author of 7 books including The Road to Damascus.

In this rich conversation, he shares his experience which threatens to turn the media portrayal of the Middle East on its head.

He spent two weeks in Lebanon and is open about the food and agriculture of the Middle East as well as the culture and “life force” of the people there. While in Lebanon, Brandon spoke to Syrian refugees who have a perspective that contrasts the mainstream media.

What happened when Brandon tried to re-acclimate to American cuisine? Are U.S. corporations like Monsanto wrapped up in war and crisis in Syria? Does the Middle East raid and arrest raw milk farmers? You don’t want to miss this conversation!

Neil Young Slams Obama, Bayer, Says Fuck Monsanto!

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

September 22, 2016

In addition to providing a stunning performance during the 31st Farm Aid concert in Bristow, VA Neil Young stole the show at the press conference before the event began.

While Farm Aid has always been focused on saving family farmers who are in distress, decades of corporate control and monopolization of the American food supply has forced the organization to also move toward helping restart the tradition of family farming and facilitating the good food movement. Obviously, GMOs have become a major issue as a result. So when it came time for Young to speak at the press conference, the godfather of grunge didn’t hold back.

Speaking fresh on the heels of the Bayer/Monsanto merger, Young spoke about the growing concern over corporate control over the food supply and the fact that this merger is a frightening new development in the corporate war on American agriculture. He also took aim at Barack Obama who has supported, facilitated, and pushed corporate control since the day he took office.

Young stated:

We have just begun. This is a revolution. And we will look back on this one way or the other in ten or fifteen years and see what folks like this are doing. We recently have seen giant corporations that are selling for billions and billions of dollars that are joining together and we heard just a few minutes ago about how somebody was eating bad food and got sick and had to take a lot of drugs and now they are eating good food and are starting to not take so many drugs. And you have to notice that one of the biggest drug companies on the planet and one the largest pesticide providers on the planet, Monsanto and Bayer, have just joined together. 

Truth on the Tracks with Brandon Turbeville - September 12, 2016

Brandon Turbeville
BrandonTurbeville.com
UCY.TV
September 12, 2016

Truth on the Tracks with Brandon Turbeville - September 12, 2016

Brandon discusses the Kratom ban, action plan, marching orders, strategy, also Monsanto's battle in India, SC's war on bees, psilocybin, the Syrian ceasefire, and 9/11.

ACCESS THE PROGRAM HERE

ACCESS THE TRUTH ON THE TRACKS ARCHIVES HERE

Ante Upped On Bayer Monsanto Merger – Billions On The Table

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

September 12, 2016

The possibility of a merger between German pharmaceutical and chemical company Bayer AG and multinational seed and pesticide corporation Monsanto Co. has just increased with the recent rounds of discussions between the two companies.

Having been in discussion regarding Bayer’s potential purchase of Monsanto for some time, Bayer has now suggested that it is now willing to offer more than $65 billion dollars. This is a two percent increase from the previous offer made by Bayer. On the other side of the deal, Monsanto has agreed to open its books for Bayer to conduct thorough checks into the company’s business status.

Bayer’s previous offer was already considered the biggest all-cash takeover bid on record. Bayer has stated that it is prepared to offer 127.50 per share – $2.50 more per share than its previous offer. “Both sides are gradually nearing consensus,” said one person familiar with the discussions and quoted by Reuters.

If Bayer does indeed purchase Monsanto it will give the company the opportunity to become one of the top dogs in the “farm supplies industry” an already highly consolidated market.

Bayer would be combining its crop science aspect with Monsanto’s near-monopoly in seeds. Monsanto has stated that it is continuing the conversation with Bayer. As well as evaluating Bayer’s offer, it also stated that it was evaluating proposals from other prospective buyers although it declined to name these other parties.

While the deal has a high probability of going through, one must also wonder what will happen to Monsanto’s shares if Bayer declines to purchase the corporation.

Monsanto Backs Out Of New GM Cotton Initiative In India

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

September 6, 2016

In late August 2016, Monsanto withdrew its application which sought approval for its new version of genetically modified cotton seeds in India.

There has been a dispute between Monsanto and New Delhi for quite some time surrounding prices Monsanto charges for the GMO cotton seeds and the corporation’s resistance to sharing its technology with local Indian seed companies.

Monsanto spokesman stated that the withdrawal of the application was “an outcome of the uncertainty in the business and regulatory environment.” He did however provide reassurance that the decision had “no impact on our current cotton portfolio being sold in India.”

On July 5th, Maharashatra Hybrid Seeds Coltd (MAHYCO), Monsanto’s “technology partner” in India highlighted a government proposal that would have required Monsanto to share its biotechnology products with local Indian seed companies.

The letter said that the government proposal “alarmed us and raised serious concerns about the protection of intellectual property rights.”

Monsanto Backs Out Of Seed Plant In Argentina After Protests

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

August 12, 2016

In yet another victory against the multinational corporation Monsanto in Argentina, the company has now announced that it will dismantle its multi-million dollar GMO seed plant in Malvinas.

Monsanto made the decision to give up on its seed plant after three years worth of protests from local citizens and GMO-free campaigners from all over Argentina. In 2014, activists forced to Monsanto to stop the construction of the plant by using coordinated protest techniques at the construction site.

A spokesman for Monsanto told Argentinian media organizations that Monsanto was dismantling the plant and that “the plant was designed to treat 3.5 million hectares of maize; however, last year, only 2.5 million hectares were sown.”

“An investment of almost 1500 million makes no sense.”

The spokesman was also forced to admit that the protests, local pressure, and resistance by environmentalists, anti-GMO activists and local residents was indeed part of the reason the company decided to dismantle the plant. In addition, a number of lawsuits have been filed against Monsanto over the legality of the construction permit as well as environmental impacts.
READ: Argentina Has A “City Of Death” Thanks To Monsanto

Sofia Gatica, one of the main activists and leaders of the protest blockade in Malvinas told InfOGM,

It’s been almost three years that Monsanto has not been able to put a brick or a wire at the construction site… The company is leaving the field but does not yet recognize its defeat in this battle. We talked with those who have to dismantle what remains. We remain on alert and continue blocking, waiting to see what will happen. We want the site to now be devoted to organic and sustainable agriculture.