ABC, an Australian public broadcast service, released a short documentary titled The Monsanto Papers, which “investigates the secret tactics used by global chemical giant Monsanto to protect its billion-dollar business and its star product, the weed killer, Roundup.”
What’s in the Monsanto Papers?
The Monsanto Papers are millions of internal documents released as part of US lawsuits against the company over claims its flagship product, Roundup, causes cancer. This is what the papers reveal:
- Monsanto ran a longstanding, aggressive campaign to protect its flagship product, Roundup.
- The papers show Monsanto knew of the potential risk of Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate, for decades.
- In 2003, Monsanto’s lead toxicologist warned they could not say “Roundup is not a carcinogen” because they hadn’t done necessary testing to prove that.
- Over the years Monsanto attempted to kill off independent assessments of glyphosate.
- Monsanto launched a PR campaign to undermine a World Health Organisation cancer agency study that classified glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen”.
- Monsanto ghost wrote a scientific paper and a magazine article in support of glyphosate and paid experts to appear on panels.
- Monsanto continues to insist Roundup is safe and they say that’s backed by hundreds of scientific papers.
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ABC’s Monsanto Papers documentary features commentary and analysis from journalist Carey Gilliam, who collects ongoing coverage and developments surrounding The Monsanto Papers at US Right To Know.