BY BILAL MOHAMMED, ABUJA.
Experts in Nigeria has reiterated calls for the ban on glyphosate used mostly on Genetically Modified Organism (GMO), saying the recent court case where jury in USA handed down a $2.25 billion verdict, including $2 billion in punitive damages, against agrochemical giant Monsanto is an evidence that GMO should not be allowed.
They said indiscriminate pesticides usage in Nigeria is a systemic suicide mission.
Speaking at a meeting of members of Alliance on Action Against Pesticide in Nigeria (AAPN) with the Director, National Committee on Chemical Management (NCCM), represented by Mr. Olubunmi Olusanya, at the Federal Ministry of Environmental on Tuesday, Prof. Johnson Ekpere, said Glyphosate is carcinogenic and should be avoided.
According to the lawyers of John McKivison, 49, who filed a lawsuit in Philadelphia against the company after he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which he said was due to using Roundup on his property for 20 years.
On Friday a jury returned a unanimous verdict, finding that Roundup was a cancer-causing product, that Monsanto was negligent and that Monsanto failed to warn about the dangers of Roundup, McKivison’s lawyers Tom Kline and Jason Itkin said in a joint statement.
“The jury’s punitive damages award sends a clear message that this multi-national corporation needs top to bottom change,” they said, calling the verdict “a condemnation of 50 years of misconduct by Monsanto.”
In an emailed statement, Bayer, Monsanto’s parent company, said it planned to appeal the verdict and what it called the “unconstitutionally excessive” damages. It said the jury’s verdict “conflicts with the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence and worldwide regulatory and scientific assessments” on Roundup.
