TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK

GUILTY!

First, let’s say a big, collective “Thank you.”

Thank you to the 12 jurors who listened attentively and critically, during long days of testimony, then deliberated with care, and ultimately did the right thing.

Thank you to the lawyers who invested countless hours in investigative work and trial preparation, and who argued rationally and intelligently on behalf of the plaintiff, science and ethics.

Thank you to those media outlets and advocacy organizations who covered the case, pored over the “Monsanto Papers” and took seriously their obligation to inform the public.

But most of all, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to Dewayne “Lee” Johnson, the plaintiff in the Dewayne Johnson v. Monsanto case. For his persistence in getting to the bottom of what caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma. For his bravery in going up against one of the most powerful corporations in the world.

And for his refusal to give up, no matter the toll on his family, and on his failing health.

As our director, Ronnie Cummins, said in an interview this week about the trial, and about Monsanto’s corruption and deception:

“We talk about these things in the abstract. But when you see the face of a victim, it literally brings these issues home.”

Media outlets across the globe lit up on Friday, August 10, when jury members filed into a San Francisco courtroom and handed a piece of paper to Judge Suzanne Bolano who read off, one by one, their answers to each of the 17 questions the jurors were asked.

The jury’s decision was unanimous: Monsanto was guilty of manufacturing and selling a product that caused Johnson’s cancer. What’s more, the company knew its product could cause cancer—and yet it intentionally hid that fact from Johnson and the public.

Read ‘Monsanto’s Loss Is Our Gain—Let’s Make the Most of It’

Make a tax-deductible donation to OCA’s Millions Against Monsanto campaign

ACTION ALERT

Ban It!

Belgium did it. El Salvador did it. France and Germany announced plans to do it.

Hundreds of cities and towns, and a growing numberof countries have either banned all uses of Monsanto’s Roundup (and other glyphosate-based weedkillers), or imposed partial bans, or voted against relicensing the herbicide.

Here in the U.S., our Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was supposed to rule—by the end of 2015—on whether to continue to allow the use of glyphosate-based weedkillers, or ban them.

Here we are, four months short of 2019, and still no decision from the EPA.

Maybe the agency that’s supposed to protect our environment, and by extension our health, has been too busy dealing with scandals to get any work done?

Or maybe our regulators can’t decide whose wrath they fear the most: the lobbyists who fill their campaign coffers, or an angry public fed up with being lied to?

Either way, we can now add this week’s landmark verdict against Monsanto to the towering pile of evidence pointing to the obvious: It’s long past time to ban this disastrous weedkiller.

TAKE ACTION: Tell the U.S. EPA: Ban Monsanto’s Roundup Weedkiller!

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Missing Link

So many studies. And still, Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller is on the market—and on your food.

What will it take to get Roundup banned? Your help!

Last week’s verdict in the Dewayne Johnson v. Monsantocase is a huge step in the right direction. And, we hope, it’s the first of hundreds if not thousands of “guilty” verdicts to rain down on Monsanto.

But there’s still a missing link in the strategy to permanently ban Roundup, everywhere: We need a comprehensive, definitive study, unlike any that has yet been conducted.

Fortunately, that study is underway. And the citizens of the world are being asked to fund it.

As we recently reported, a new pilot study, published in the prestigious scientific journal Environmental Health, suggests that the maximum residue limits (MRLs) for glyphosate, set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as “safe” aren’t safe at all—especially for kids.

The Ramazzini Institute, which collaborated with the University of Bologna, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, the George Washington University and the Cancer Institute of Genoa on the pilot study, is gearing up for the next phase—a full-blown study that, depending on results, could be used to convince regulators all over the world to ban Roundup.

There’s a reason this type of study hasn’t yet been done—it’s costly. That’s why the Ramazzini Institute has turned to the citizens of the world for help.

OCA has set a goal of raising $25,000 from U.S. consumers to help fund the most important study ever on Monsanto’s Roundup. Please make a generous donation today to this campaign. Thank you!

Make a tax-deductible donation to support the Ramazzini Study

Make a tax-deductible donation to OCA’s Millions Against Monsanto campaign

Click here to learn about other ways to support our work

ACTION ALERT

Toxic Trickery

In 1991, the Supreme Court ruled that under federal law, local governments had the right to pass pesticide bans, on public and private property.

Naturally, that ruling didn’t sit well with Monsanto. So industry lobbyists pressured 43 states to pass state laws prohibiting cities, towns and counties from imposing any restrictions on pesticides that would exceed those established under state law. (No state so far has imposed a statewide ban on pesticides).

Seven states—Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, Utah and Vermont—still allow local governments to pass strict pesticide regulations, including bans, without worrying about their state legislatures preempting the will of local citizens and elected officials.

But that’s not good enough for Monsanto, and its new parent company, Bayer.

Bayer-Monsanto now wants to use the Farm Bill to change federal law so that local governments, in all 50 states, lose the right to regulate pesticides.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress: Stop Monsanto’s Toxic Tricks

Support Citizens Regeneration Lobby (CRL), OCA’s sister lobbying organization Donations to CRL, a 501(c) (4) nonprofit, are not tax-deductible

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Yes. Yes. Yes.

The verdict came in on a mid-August (peak summer vacation time) end-of-week Friday afternoon (after 5 p.m. on the east coast).

But that didn’t stop it from making headlines, around the world.

The verdict was stunning. Historic. Damning. Vindicating. And a long time coming.

In case you missed it, here’s the video of Judge Suzanne Bolanos reading the jury’s responses to all of the questions they were asked to consider, in the case of Dewayne Johnson v. Monsanto.

The answer to question after question, about whether Roundup caused Johnson’s cancer, whether the product poses a danger to consumers, whether the product’s risk was known or knowable? Yes. Yes. Yes.

You’ll also want to watch the press conference that followed the verdict, to hear more about what’s to come, as Monsanto is forced to face down hundreds more of its victims.

Watch the judge in the Monsanto trial read the ‘guilty’ verdict

Watch the lawyers weigh in after the verdict

ORGANIC STOREFRONT

Go Green!

If you’re like most people, hardly a meal went by without your mom admonishing you to “eat your greens!”

Mom was right. Vegetables, especially the green ones, pack a powerful nutrient punch. Yet most of us don’t eat them often and when we do, we don’t eat enough of them.

Mercola.com has come up with a “green food solution” to help you get more of the nutrients commonly found in organic leafy green vegetables.

Mercola’s Organic Greens contain:

• Powdered forms of an assortment of organic vegetables
• Organic cereal grasses from North America
• Two top superfoods: Chlorella and Spirulina
• An organic mushroom blend for immune support
• Alkalizing extracts that provide antioxidant benefits, including one of Japan’s best kept secrets: Green Matcha—Apple and Green Tea
• Two adaptogens to fight stress and fatigue: Maca Root and Rhodiola
• Organic Greens are easily mixed in with shakes and smoothies. USDA certified organic—which means no GMOs!

From now until midnight August 31, get 20% off your purchase of Mercola’s Organic Greenssupplement with this code: ORGANIC818. Plus Mercola will donate 20% of your purchase price to OCA.

Shop now and get 20% of your purchase of Mercola’s Organic Greens

LITTLE BYTES

Monsanto Verdict Coverage

The Guardian: One Man’s Suffering Exposed Monsanto’s Secrets to the World

Bloomberg: Bayer Takes the Hit After Monsanto Loses Roundup Cancer Trial

NBC News: Jury Orders Monsanto to Pay Nearly $290 Million in Roundup Cancer Trial

People Magazine: ‘Terminally Ill Man Awarded $289 Million After Jury Rules Weed Killer Roundup Caused his Cancer

National Public Radio: Jury Awards Terminally Ill Man $289 Million in Lawsuit Against Monsanto

CBS News: Jury Orders Monsanto to Pay $289 Million in Roundup Cancer Trial

CNN: Jurors Give $289 Million to a Man They Say Got Cancer from Monsanto’s Roundup Weedkiller