XPost: alt.france, sac.politics, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sci.agriculture   
   From: gmo@monsanto.com   
      
   A French court upheld on Thursday a 2012 ruling in which   
   Monsanto was found guilty of chemical poisoning of a French   
   farmer, who says he suffered neurological problems after   
   inhaling the U.S. company's Lasso weedkiller.   
      
   The decision by an appeal court in Lyon, southeast France,   
   confirmed the initial judgment, the first such case heard in   
   court in France, that ruled Monsanto was "responsible" for the   
   intoxication and ordered the company to "fully compensate" grain   
   grower Paul Francois.   
      
   Monsanto's lawyer said the U.S. biotech company would now take   
   the case to France's highest appeal court.   
      
   Francois, who says he suffered memory loss, headaches and   
   stammering after inhaling Monsanto's Lasso in 2004, blames the   
   agri-business giant for not providing adequate warnings on the   
   product label.   
      
   Lasso, a pre-emergent soil-applied herbicide that has been used   
   since the 1960s to control grasses and broadleaf weeds in farm   
   fields, was banned in France in 2007 after the product had   
   already been withdrawn in other countries such as Canada,   
   Belgium and Britain.   
      
   Monsanto phased out of Lasso in the United States several years   
   ago for commercial reasons, its spokesman in France said.   
      
   Though it once was a top-selling herbicide, it gradually lost   
   popularity, and critics say several studies have shown links to   
   a range of health problems.   
      
   Monsanto said in a statement after the ruling that experts,   
   including those nominated by the French civil court, had not   
   found any causal link between the alleged accidental exposure   
   and the alleged damages for which Francois claims compensation.   
      
   The company's lawyer, Jean-Daniel Bretzner, said a potential   
   fine to compensate for the farmer's loss would be decided after   
   the decision of the highest court but he said that in any case   
   it would be very low.   
      
   "We are speaking about modest sums of money or even nonexistent.   
   He already received indemnities (by insurers) and there is a   
   fundamental rule that says that one does not compensate twice   
   for a loss, if any," Jean-Daniel Bretzner said.   
      
   Lasso is not Monsanto's sole herbicide accused of being harmful.   
      
   The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of   
   the World Health Organization (WHO), said in March that   
   glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup, one of the   
   world's most used herbicides, was "probably carcinogenic to   
   humans."   
      
   Monsanto reacted to the finding in June by demanding a   
   retraction, labeling the findings by a team of international   
   cancer scientists as "junk science."   
      
   http://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/09/10/french-court-confirms-   
   monsanto-guilty-chemical-poisoning/?intcmp=trending   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)