Bayer has announced that they will settle approximately 75% of the approximately 125,000 lawsuits from plaintiffs who claim to have developed non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma due to Roundup exposure. The German pharmaceutical giant has been plagued with litigation regarding the world’s most used herbicide since it purchased Monsanto in 2018. Bayer issued a press release on Wednesday with the details of this move.

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The company will make a payment of $8.8 billion to $9.6 billion to resolve the current Roundup™ litigation, including an allowance expected to cover unresolved claims, and $1.25 billion to support a separate class agreement to address potential future litigation.”

Bayer

Only three cases against Roundup have gone to trial. Each trial ended in a substantial decision for the plaintiffs, with monetary awards of $289 million, $80 million, and $2 billion. The newly announced settlements are subject to approval by Judge Vince Chhabria, who has previously upheld jury verdicts against the company and was also responsible for reducing $80 million in damages to $25 million. These previous jury verdicts are not part of the settlement agreement, and Bayer has indicated they will continue to appeal those cases.

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Forty-three thousand pounds of raw beef produced by Lakeside Refrigerated Services in New Jersey was recalled due to E.coli contamination. The beef was produced on June 1 and sold at Wal-mart. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced the recall on Saturday.

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FSIS is concerned that some product may be in consumers’ refrigerators or freezers…Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.”

Food Safety and Inspection Service

The beef tested positive for E. coli O157: H7, a strain of E.coli that is responsible for 36% of the more than 265,000 STEC (Shiga toxin-producing E. coli) infections in the U.S. every year. The FSIS found the bacteria through routine testing and has not confirmed any adverse reactions to the contaminated beef.

The USDA recalled almost 700,000 pounds of beef in 2019. Previous years saw recalls of 13 million (2018) and 900,000 (2017) pounds of beef. In another year this recall would not be a big deal. However, the meat processing industry is still reeling from coronavirus and labor processing, and it is unclear how recalls will affect the food supply chain in 2020.

Sources:

• Over 40,000 pounds of ground beef recalled due to E. coli concerns – KSL
• Summary of Recall Cases in Calendar Year 2019 – USDA

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has decided to allow farmers who purchased dicamba-based products to use them this year, despite a June 3rd ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that canceled the product’s approval. Bayer’s XtendiMax, BASF’s Engenia, and Corteva Agriscience’s FeXapan can now be used in specific circumstances after the EPA received feedback from farmers who had already purchased the herbicides.

At the height of the growing season, the Court’s decision has threatened the livelihood of our nation’s farmers and the global food supply…Today’s cancellation and existing stocks order is consistent with EPA’s standard practice following registration invalidation, and is designed to advance compliance, ensure regulatory certainty, and to prevent the misuse of existing stocks.”

Andrew Wheeler, EPA Administrator

According to the order, distribution or sale of the dicamba-based herbicides are still prohibited unless for proper disposal or returns. Those who purchased the herbicides before the June 3rd cancellation are still able to use them. All of use of these systems must cease by July 31st.

The Center for Food Safety and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) have already filed a motion asking the Ninth Circuit Court to hold Wheeler and the EPA in contempt for allowing farmers to use the product in defiance of the court’s decision.

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It’s mind-boggling to see the EPA blatantly ignore a court ruling, especially one that provides such important protections for farmers and the environment…We’re asking this court to restore the rule of law at the Trump EPA.”

Stephanie Parent, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity

For those looking for that perfect pollinator plant to grow, look no further than hemp. While Cannabis sativa (industrial hemp) lacks the nectar that bees typically collect, a study published in the journal Environmental Entomology found that the pollen produced by male plants was able to attract up to 16 different bee species.

Because of its temporally unique flowering phenology (the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena), hemp has the potential to provide a critical nutritional resource to a diverse community of bees during a period of floral scarcity and thereby may help to sustain agroecosystem-wide pollination services for other crops in the landscape.”

Environmental Entomology

Taller hemp plants were more successful than the shortest plants in attracting bees, drawing in 17 times more of the insects. This is likely due to the increased pollen production of taller plants and their increased visibility.

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Sources:

• Bees Absolutely Love Cannabis and It Could Help Restore Their Populations – Vegnum
• Environmental Entomology Study Confirms Bees Love Hemp – PSNet

Bayer AG has reached verbal agreements with 50,000 to 85,000 plaintiffs in Roundup cancer lawsuits in the United States. The agreements have not yet been signed, and some of them will need the approval of California Judge Vince Chhabria, the judge responsible for reducing an $80 million award to $25 million. Chhabria suspended a trial scheduled for March 23rd without setting a new date, and brought in settlement negotiator Kenneth Feinberg.

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There are talks with various lawyers around the nation who have significant inventories of Roundup cases. I’m optimistic we can reach a comprehensive settlement of this litigation.”

Kenneth Feinberg, mediator

These negotiations represent a significant chunk of the 125,000 of the Roundup lawsuits in California and Missouri (where Monsanto headquarters were located), though Bayer has only acknowledged about half of those. Settlements are preferable to high-exposure jury trials, like the three California cases last year that resulted in significant awards against the pharmaceutical and life sciences company. Roundup litigation has plagued the German company since it purchased Monsanto in 2018.

Bayer has said official settlements will likely be announced in June.

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Sources:

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) have announced that they will co-sponsor the Farm System Reform Act (FSRA) introduced by Cory Booker (D-NJ). Khanna also introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives. The FSRA is designed to move the United States agricultural system away from factory farming by immediately stopping the construction of new factory farms, the expansion of existing farms, and phasing out the largest farms by 2040. Booker initially proposed the legislation in December of 2019, and the current pandemic-induced food system woes and COVID-19 have inspired Senator Warren and Representative Khanna to show their support for the legislation.

For years, regulators looked the other way while giant multinational corporations crushed competition in the agriculture sector and seized control over key markets…The COVID-19 crisis will make it easier for Big Ag to get even bigger, gobble up smaller farms, and lead to fewer choices for consumers….”

Senator Elizabeth Warren

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The Farm System Reform Act also includes a $100 Billion voluntary buyout program for contract farmers who want to move away from factory farming, strengthens family farmer and rancher protections, prohibits the USDA from labeling imported meat as Product of the U.S.A., and reinstitutes mandatory country of origin labeling for beef, pork, and dairy.

Our food system was not broken by the pandemic and it was not broken by independent family farmers…It was broken by large, multinational corporations like Tyson, Smithfield, and JBS that, because of their buying power and size, have undue influence over the marketplace and over public policy.”

Senator Cory Booker

Sources:

• Elizabeth Warren Backs Cory Booker’s Bill to Shut Down Factory Farms – Veg News
• Sen. Cory Booker Just Dropped a Bill That Includes First-Ever National Factory Farm Moratorium – Food and Water Watch

A lawsuit has recently been filed against a Smithfield Foods pork plant in Milan, Missouri. The pork-processing plant is accused of not adequately protecting workers during the coronavirus pandemic. Workers have reported not taking time to cover their mouths after coughing or covering their mouths after sneezing for fear of missing meat as it goes by, thus resulting in the risk of disciplinary action. The complaint was filed by an anonymous worker. Along with the health of the workers, the health of the public has also been brought into question.

Several dozen workers signed a letter that was delivered to plant management during the week of March 30 complaining of cramped conditions and a lack of protective equipment and accommodations for sick leave. It cited the company’s policy of assigning workers a disciplinary point — a tally that can lead to dismissal — if they took a day off.

Missouri Pork Plant Workers Say They Can’t Cover Mouths to Cough

Many meatpacking facilities around the country have shut down or are working at a lower capacity. Ten workers have died from the coronavirus while around 6,500 employees either contracted the virus, are showing symptoms and/or have missed work due to self-quarantine. The CDC has recommended that Smithfield facilities establish stricter social distancing regulations. Through the lawsuit, workers are requesting changes to Smithfield’s practices rather than compensation.

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Smithfield workers are not unionized. Before the Coronavirus outbreak workers reported not having enough time for bathroom breaks. Workers frequently suffered from urinary tract infections and other stress injuries.

Sources:

• Missouri Pork Plant Workers Say They Can’t Cover Mouths to Cough -Organic Consumers Association
• Missouri Pork Plant Workers Say They Can’t Cover Mouths to Cough -The New York Times