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friendly_iconoclast

(15,333 posts)
Wed Mar 27, 2019, 07:09 PM Mar 2019

Who has helped to kill more people: Monsanto or the NRA?

And how much of what's descibed at the first link the responsibility of former glyphoste shill Shannon Watts?


https://www.democraticunderground.com/1127125363

U.S. jury hits Bayer with $81 million in Roundup cancer trial
Source: Reuters

BUSINESS NEWS MARCH 27, 2019 / 6:05 PM / UPDATED 16 MINUTES AGO

U.S. jury hits Bayer with $81 million in Roundup cancer trial

(Reuters) - A U.S. jury on Wednesday awarded $80.9 million to a man who claimed his use of Bayer AG’s glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup caused his cancer, in the latest legal setback for the company facing thousands of similar lawsuits.

The jury in San Francisco federal court said the company was liable for plaintiff Edwin Hardeman’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Reporting by Alexandria Sage in San Francisco; editing by Bill Berkrot

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bayer-glyphosate-lawsuit/u-s-jury-hits-bayer-with-81-million-in-roundup-cancer-trial-idUSKCN1R


https://www.democraticunderground.com/1172133670

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/1172160038#post5

5. the difference is,

she is the whole group. Bloomberg hired her firm, Popvox Public Relations LLC, to create an astro turf group to be the "MADD" of guns. A month before their creation, Bloomberg and his staff were using NYC government email to discuss how to create it. Someone filed a city equivalent to a FOIA, and got the whole dump.
The few protesters who show up might be "likes" on Facebook, or paid employees. The armed body guards at these events are certainly paid.
Since Watts is speaking as a Bloomberg employee, she is speaking for Bloomberg. Since she is MDA, she is also speaking for it.
Oh yes, she really was the PR chief for Monsanto, you know the "Round up is harmless" people...



Response to gejohnston (Reply #5)

Thu Jan 29, 2015, 10:57 AM

DonP (6,185 posts)
8. FWIW, she also worked on the "GMO foods are good for your children" campaign


So obviously we can all trust her, since I'm sure she feeds her children GMO Veggies every day and probably resents having armed guards following her to events.

But to control "fans" I guess armed guards are not really hypocrisy, that's just more proof of how "dangerous" those gun owners are.


One supposes Purdue Pharma and Takata weren't hiring at the time...



18 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies

Botany

(70,447 posts)
12. I gotta go kill some invasive crap .... honeysuckle, buckthorn, and day lily
Wed Mar 27, 2019, 08:47 PM
Mar 2019

You got a better way I am all ears.

 

friendly_iconoclast

(15,333 posts)
6. It might well explain Watts' motive for allegedly "starting" MDA: Guilt
Wed Mar 27, 2019, 07:25 PM
Mar 2019

As DonP demonstrated, the notion that Watts came up with the idea is as ludicrous as the
idea that Lindsey Graham woke up a few weeks back and 'just decided' to start backing Trump
without any outside motivation...

CrispyQ

(36,424 posts)
9. Who cares?
Wed Mar 27, 2019, 07:51 PM
Mar 2019

They're both corporations, legal entities protected from the same laws that apply to you & me, & headed & controlled by human Boards of Directors, who are hardly ever impacted by the decisions they make & are shielded by the corporate charter from prosecution for the harm their decisions cause.

Reclaim Democracy - Revoke Corporate Personhood Rights

Shell_Seas

(3,329 posts)
10. MDA is a good organization that has done good.
Wed Mar 27, 2019, 07:55 PM
Mar 2019

I have met Shannon Watts several times and believe her incentives to curb gun violence are genuine.

Furthermore, this argument is an NRA and right wing taking point they have been pushing for years, and Shannon Watts has addressed this, multiple times.

https://medium.com/@JMAvery/you-mean-shannon-ex-marketing-exec-for-monsanto-the-perennial-punching-bag-for-the-nra-and-2446235ed051

 

friendly_iconoclast

(15,333 posts)
11. The fact remains that Watts was head PR flack for a known and notorious polluter, whose corporate...
Wed Mar 27, 2019, 08:43 PM
Mar 2019

... crimes are now becoming more and more exposed.

These are inconvenient truths, not 'right wing talking point(s)'

I note that Watts herself has apparently never addressed the issue- if I'm wrong, any link demonstrating
otherwise would be most appreciated


Maybe she took Bloomie's dime out of guilt feelings. Maybe she's entirely sincere in her motivations

No matter- Watts' status as titular head of MDA means that her past actions are as open to scrutiny as
that of any officer of the NRA or other progun orgs.

 

friendly_iconoclast

(15,333 posts)
15. *Do* let us know when she apologizes for shilling Roundup:
Thu Mar 28, 2019, 02:49 PM
Mar 2019
http://www.linkedin.com/in/shannontroughton

Shannon Watts's Overview

Current
Founder at Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America
Past
Freelance Senior Consultant/Counselor at Fleishman-Hillard
Founder and President at VoxPop Public Relations
Vice President, Corporate Communications at WellPoint



http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/launch-of-new-public-relations-agency-voxpop-public-relations-llc-shannon-troughton-named-40-under-40-by-pr-week-65339842.html

...At WellPoint, Troughton led a team of 40 public relations professionals responsible for implementing communications programs for the 14 states in which the company operates, as well as the company's business units.

Previously, Ms. Troughton served as director of Global Communications for GE Healthcare, a $15 billion medical diagnostics and device business within General Electric.

Troughton also served as director of Public and Corporate Affairs for Monsanto Company in St. Louis where she led external initiatives designed to generate positive, proactive media coverage of the company's agriculture biotechnology products.

In addition, Troughton was vice president of Corporate and Public Affairs at Fleishman-Hillard public relations agency in Kansas City, Missouri, where she developed strategic issues and crisis management programs to help protect and enhance the reputation of public and private organizations and corporations.

lastlib

(23,163 posts)
14. Answer: YES!
Wed Mar 27, 2019, 10:51 PM
Mar 2019

Profit and POWER are the only things that matter to those two corrupt criminal entities. Burn 'em both to the ground, OK with me.

Thyla

(791 posts)
16. Dudes not dead yet.
Thu Mar 28, 2019, 03:13 PM
Mar 2019

He may be by the time he loses the appeals to come though.
People have died after deliberate ingestion of high doses though but probably no where near the numbers involved in gun deaths.

The answer is NRA.

 

friendly_iconoclast

(15,333 posts)
17. Gun deaths are quick and obvious. Roundup-induced cancer, kidney & liver damage are slow and hidden
Thu Mar 28, 2019, 11:20 PM
Mar 2019

Monsanto might still pull ahead. FWIW, I despise the NRA and Bayer/Monsanto equally

Note:emphasis added

https://www.google.com/search?ei=io6dXI-DKMGMggf5zJy4AQ&q=%22kidney+disease%22+poor+farmers+site%3Ademocraticunderground.com&oq=%22kidney+disease%22+poor+farmers+site%3Ademocraticunderground.com&gs_l=psy-ab.12...0.0..4714...0.0..0.0.0.......0......gws-wiz.FkYm_85Wtbs

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4549093/

Transcriptome profile analysis reflects rat liver and kidney damage following chronic ultra-low dose Roundup exposure

Background

Glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) are the major pesticides used worldwide. Converging evidence suggests that GBH, such as Roundup, pose a particular health risk to liver and kidneys although low environmentally relevant doses have not been examined. To address this issue, a 2-year study in rats administering 0.1 ppb Roundup (50 ng/L glyphosate equivalent) via drinking water (giving a daily intake of 4 ng/kg bw/day of glyphosate) was conducted. A marked increased incidence of anatomorphological and blood/urine biochemical changes was indicative of liver and kidney structure and functional pathology. In order to confirm these findings we have conducted a transcriptome microarray analysis of the liver and kidneys from these same animals.
Results

The expression of 4224 and 4447 transcript clusters (a group of probes corresponding to a known or putative gene) were found to be altered respectively in liver and kidney (p?<?0.01, q?<?0.08). Changes in gene expression varied from ?3.5 to 3.7 fold in liver and from ?4.3 to 5.3 in kidneys. Among the 1319 transcript clusters whose expression was altered in both tissues, ontological enrichment in 3 functional categories among 868 genes were found. First, genes involved in mRNA splicing and small nucleolar RNA were mostly upregulated, suggesting disruption of normal spliceosome activity. Electron microscopic analysis of hepatocytes confirmed nucleolar structural disruption. Second, genes controlling chromatin structure (especially histone-lysine N-methyltransferases) were mostly upregulated. Third, genes related to respiratory chain complex I and the tricarboxylic acid cycle were mostly downregulated. Pathway analysis suggests a modulation of the mTOR and phosphatidylinositol signalling pathways. Gene disturbances associated with the chronic administration of ultra-low dose Roundup reflect a liver and kidney lipotoxic condition and increased cellular growth that may be linked with regeneration in response to toxic effects causing damage to tissues. Observed alterations in gene expression were consistent with fibrosis, necrosis, phospholipidosis, mitochondrial membrane dysfunction and ischemia, which correlate with and thus confirm observations of pathology made at an anatomical, histological and biochemical level.
Conclusion

Our results suggest that chronic exposure to a GBH in an established laboratory animal toxicity model system at an ultra-low, environmental dose can result in liver and kidney damage with potential significant health implications for animal and human populations.


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28067231

Multiomics reveal non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in rats following chronic exposure to an ultra-low dose of Roundup herbicide.

Abstract

The impairment of liver function by low environmentally relevant doses of glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) is still a debatable and unresolved matter. Previously we have shown that rats administered for 2 years with 0.1 ppb (50?ng/L glyphosate equivalent dilution; 4?ng/kg body weight/day daily intake) of a Roundup GBH formulation showed signs of enhanced liver injury as indicated by anatomorphological, blood/urine biochemical changes and transcriptome profiling. Here we present a multiomic study combining metabolome and proteome liver analyses to obtain further insight into the Roundup-induced pathology. Proteins significantly disturbed (214 out of 1906 detected, q?<?0.05) were involved in organonitrogen metabolism and fatty acid ?-oxidation. Proteome disturbances reflected peroxisomal proliferation, steatosis and necrosis. The metabolome analysis (55 metabolites altered out of 673 detected, p?<?0.05) confirmed lipotoxic conditions and oxidative stress by showing an activation of glutathione and ascorbate free radical scavenger systems. Additionally, we found metabolite alterations associated with hallmarks of hepatotoxicity such as ?-glutamyl dipeptides, acylcarnitines, and proline derivatives. Overall, metabolome and proteome disturbances showed a substantial overlap with biomarkers of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and its progression to steatohepatosis and thus confirm liver functional dysfunction resulting from chronic ultra-low dose GBH exposure.


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6120931/

Reply to ‘Comments on two recent publications on GM maize and Roundup’

The opinion expressed by Eriksson and colleagues’ fails to recognise that there are no standard experimental designs for academic investigations involving omics analyses of genetically modified crops and that the only valid comparator to determine the effect of the process of transgenesis is a near isogenic variety grown at the same time and location, as was the case in our investigation of NK603 maize. Eriksson does not acknowledge that the quality of the rat liver tissues in our chronic Roundup toxicity study has neither been questioned nor branded as unsuitable for further investigation. In addition, Eriksson fails to appreciate that the statistical methods we used to analyse the liver metabolomics dataset are recognised as appropriate as some of a number of approaches that can be taken. Moreover, Eriksson neglects to mention that the proteomics analysis of the liver tissues highlights structural and functional damage from Roundup exposure. Thus our results are sound and the claims by Eriksson and colleagues of experimental flaws are unfounded.Replying to: Eriksson et al. Sci Rep 8 (2018); 10.1038/s41598-018-30440-7.


Alea

(706 posts)
18. Monsanto built the Clinton Laboratories ( now Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
Sat Apr 6, 2019, 12:12 AM
Apr 2019

which was instrumental in our ability to process U238 to get the U235 needed for one of the bombs that ended WW2. In all fairness, they built it at cost because they didn't want to profit from the war.

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