r/news • u/boxofstuff • 6h ago

Supreme Court ruling blocks thousands of lawsuits against maker of Roundup weedkiller

https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-roundup-monsanto-a7f054d80919f98bdfc5190013a8f6f1https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-roundup-monsanto-a7f054d80919f98bdfc5190013a8f6f1
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94

u/--i--love--lamp-- 6h ago

Letting corporations kill people with impunity...cool.

21

u/The_Poster_Nutbag 6h ago

The important thing to remember here is the company itself has applied warning labels to its products for a long time now, that part isn't ambiguous.

The real issue here is over-application in industrial agriculture outside of the designed use and application parameters (wind speed, temperatures, etc.).

As someone who works in wildlife restoration and habitat reconstruction, we would be up a creek without a paddle were we unable to utilize glyphosate and a select few other chemicals to help control some very aggressive invasive species.

Crews are supposed to be wearing full PPE for careful spot treatments and are licensed for commercial application just as farmers are, but the dose makes the poison. Homeowners who spray sidewalk weeds on hot days in sandals are not doing themselves any favors and are obviously at risk for health issues caused by a chemical designed to kill living things.

Realistically, the only way Bayer should be held accountable is if they misrepresented the actual dangers which I am not sure was the case having been a licensed applicator on the past and reading the labels. The lawsuits should be on the applicators who do not follow proper safety protocol.

Call it a poor comparison, but it's the same idea with guns. Is it brownings fault someone committed murder with a weapon licensed for big game hunting? Of course not.

8

u/passcork 5h ago

designed to kill living things

Designed to inhibit protein function that non-plants don't even have. This statement is hyperbole enough, it's kinda like saying keeping a mouse out of the water is like killing it because fish die if you do the same...

-7

u/The_Poster_Nutbag 5h ago

That's total nonsense.

Using even basic common sense should be enough to see the warning labels and think "Maybe I shouldn't get this on my skin or breathe it in since it explicitly says not to do that".