Over the past few years, genetically modified organisms or GMOs have come under fire over the effects that crops of this nature have on the environment and people, particularly farmers, and so it's not surprising to see that the biggest company of this nature in court over this, as Monsanto's lawsuit sees the GMO giant losing a battle.
In 2004, French grain grower Paul Francois inhaled Monsanto's Lasso weedkiller, which he says later led to suffering neurological damage; in 2012, a court sided with the farmer on the Monsanto lawsuit, and after three years of appeals, a higher court has confirmed the first ruling.
According to Reuters, the Monsanto lawsuit appeal happened in the southeast French city of Lyon, and it confirmed the original 2012 ruling, which was the first case of this type ever to reach courtrooms in the European country, ruling that the giant company was "responsible" for Francois' intoxication and had to "fully compensate" him.
RT reports that, after the second round in court, the American company's still planning to appeal the Monsanto lawsuit further, maintaining that their products are perfectly safe to use; Monsanto's lawyer in the country, Jean-Daniel Bretzner, says that the decision was "surprising" due to the many "inaccuracies and errors" on the evidence presented on Francois' side.
Bretzner also said that, since insurers had already compensated the farmer, Monsanto would only have to pay "modest sums of money" or even none at all.
"David can win against Goliath... And a giant like Monsanto is not above the law," said Francois to the press upon hearing the courts had sided with him once again.
According to HNGN, what led Francois to file the Monsanto lawsuit was a series of neurological problems, ranging from memory loss and headaches to even stammering after inhaling the product in 2004; since then, the French government actually banned Monsanto's Lasso, after other countries like Canada, Belgium and the UK did the same before that.
In the midst of this Monsanto lawsuit, another of the company's pesticides has been gathering bad press, after the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said last year that Monsanto's Roundup was "probably carcinogenic to humans."
