
French court finds Monsanto guilty of poisoning farmer - ciconia
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/apr/11/french-court-finds-monsanto-guilty-of-poisoning-farmer
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ddoran
I happen to be staying at a b&b at a organic French vineyard right now. We
stayed here because the owner has written three books about the experience [1]
and it was in an area we wanted to visit (between Bordeaux and Bergerac)
rather than because it was organic. As we have walked around this area, I've
been horrified by the contrast between organic vineyards and those which are
not. The non-organic vineyards have scorched dead brown grass a foot either
side of every row of vines, from insecticide which is applied every 6 weeks.
The organic vines are surrounded by green grass and wildflowers. 94% of
Bordeaux wine is not organic. There is a lot of scorched dead grass.

Before this "organic" to me meant: expensive, nice idea, faddish and
definitely not something I sought out.

This trip has been life-changing. I've become an organic convert overnight. I
do not want to eat fruit or plant byproducts from roots which are constantly
exposed to weedkiller or insecticide so strong that it kills all around it
(except the root itself).

[1]-
[https://www.amazon.com/s?k=caro+feely&ref=nb_sb_noss_2](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=caro+feely&ref=nb_sb_noss_2)

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jniedrauer
Why do you think that dead grass surrounding a vineyard is harmful? The only
conditions under which this would be a bad thing are: a) there is a wider
environmental impact; b) there is a risk to consumers. Neither of which you
could see by casually strolling by.

This type of anecdotal feelings based decision making is how we ended up with
widespread anti-vaccine, anti-gluten, anti-GMO sentiment, etc.

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frankbreetz
Why would you think dead grass is harmful? It's not dead grass that is
harmful. The poison that kills the grass is harmful.

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jniedrauer
Chocolate is toxic to dogs, but that doesn't mean it's dangerous to us. Again,
you can't just rely on your gut feeling for this kind of stuff.

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frankbreetz
Roundup is toxic to humans as are most if not all herbicides. I think it would
be better to assume anything that can kill grass is toxic to humans unless
there is significant research proving this to not be true. I would rather see
people err on the side of caution in this area.

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dessant
I wonder if they'll also change ways, or just names.

[https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jun/04/monsanto-
to...](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jun/04/monsanto-to-ditch-its-
infamous-name-after-sale-to-bayer)

~~~
chris_mc
They won't change anything while they spend the next 10 years in legal
maneuvers to draw out the case, then, probably after they've made another
billion euros on other shitty, dangerous products, they will settle out of
court for a pittance compared to the profit they made off of this and other
discontinued and dangerous chemicals.

