Thailand

Monsanto says RoundUp is safe. A Californian jury disagreed with them.

Published

6 months ago

August 13, 2018

Monsanto says RoundUp is safe. A Californian jury disagreed with them. | The Thaiger

A jury in San Francisco has ruled this week that RoundUp, the world’s most popular weedkiller, gave Dewayne Johnson, a former school groundskeeper, terminal cancer.

The court awarded him $39 million dollars and awarded punitive damages of $289 million to agri-chemical company Monsanto.

The man’s victories is poised to set a massive precedent for thousands of other cases that similarly claim Monsato’s famous herbicide caused the patient to contract non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The decision comes amongst a deluge of conflicting evidence on both sides of the argument that, despite decades of research, is yet to find conclusive evidence of the chemical’s failings, despite tons of anecdotal evidence.

Mr. Johnson’s case was the first to go to trial because doctors said he was close to death. In California, a dying plaintiff can be granted expedited trials. 46 year old Johnson said during the trial that used RoundUp 20-30 times a year when working as a gardener for a school in San Fransisco. He said that twice he had accidents when we was ‘soaked’ with the product, accidents that exceeded the recommended use of the chemical.

But rather than providing closure in the long-running debate, there are another 800 patients waiting for their trials in the US as they prepare to sue Monsanto over the same contention – that ‘RoundUp’ gave them cancer.

The big question remains, despite this jury ruling, whether RoundUp (glysophate) causes cancer and, if so, whether Monsanto either knew about the potential problems with the chemical or failed to warn consumers about the cancer risk.

In March 2015, the World Health Organisation International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said the key ingredient in Roundup, glyphosate, is “probably carcinogenic to humans.” Here’s a link to the report.

Monsanto has long maintained that RoundUp does not cause cancer and the IARC report is greatly outnumbered by studies saying glyphosate is safe.

Partridge, Monsanto’s vice president of strategy, backed up the weight of evidence on Monsanto’s side.

“More than 800 scientific studies, the US EPA, the National Institutes of Health and regulators around the world have concluded that glyphosate is safe for use and does not cause cancer.”

“We all have sympathy for Mr. Johnson,” Partridge said this week. “It’s natural he’s looking for answers. Glyphosate is not the answer.”

In all cases plaintiff’s will be put into a position that they have to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that the chemical caused their cancers.

Glysophate is a common weed killer used in Thai agriculture. Over past years there has been activists trying to ban it’s use. The Thai government has responded, so far, by putting it on a list of dangerous chemicals and is continuing its investigation into the use of the chemical in Thai agriculture.

A successful court case, coming down on the side of a plaintiff claiming the chemical caused his cancer, has brought the issue to a head and will temper many other companies and governments’ use of Glysophate in the future.

An article about glysophate from National Geographic HERE.

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Chiang Mai

Thailand will swelter through searing temperatures this summer

Published

9 hours ago

February 20, 2019

The Thaiger & The Nation

Thailand will swelter through searing temperatures this summer | The Thaiger

Temperatures in Thailand this summer is forecast to be 1-2 degrees Celsius warmer than last year. The announcement comes from the Thai Meteorological Department director-general Phuwiang Prakammin.

And it’s predicted to hit 42-43C in seven provinces in northern Thailand.

In Thailand summer, as a regional season, is listed as running between February 21 to mid-May.

Phuwiang says daytime temperatures in March and April will hit 40C in much of the North, Northeast, Central and Eastern regions. But he doesn’t foresee the record set on April 28, 2016, when Mae Hong Son, on the north-western border sweltered at 44.6C, being broken.

“But Mae Hong Son is one of the seven provinces forecast to reach 42-43C this year, the others being Lampang, Uttaradit, Sukhothai, Tak, Nakhon Sawan and Kanchanaburi.”

“In southern regions, the maximum temperature will be 38-39C in Prachuap Khiri Khan, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Yala, Krabi, Trang and Satun, accompanied by occasional rain and waves at sea up to a metre high.”

“Rain will increase towards the end of April (the traditional start to the country’s wet season is Songkran which is on April 13 each year), and waves will be up to three metres high.”

“The weather in Pattaya in Chon Buri will match that of the South, with a maximum temperature of 35-37C in April.”

Thailand

The legalisation of marijuana for medical purposes, is now in effect

Published

12 hours ago

February 20, 2019

The Thaiger

Grass, pot, ganja, marijuana… cannabis.

Whatever you want to call it, it can now be grown legally in Thailand and used in medical and scientific applications with the consent of the authorities, under strict guidelines.

The Narcotics Act 2562, which seeks to amend specific provisions of the Narcotics Act of 1979 to enable the use of marijuana for the treatment of patients, study, research and development, has now been published in the Royal Gazette.

The revised also allows for cultivation in agricultural, commercial and industrial uses for medical benefits as well.

However, the legal use of marijuana will be placed under the control of a committee headed by the permanent secretary of agriculture and comprises heads of several departments such as the Health Support Services Department, the Industrial Works Department, the Mental Health Department and the Medical Council.

The law also allows for the legal use of “kanchong”, or hemp, with consent from the committee.

Import and export of marijuana in quantities, appropriate for medical treatment of certain ailments, is now permissible under the law, but there must be a prescription or a certificate from a certified medical practitioner.

However, the import or export of marijuana in excess of 10 kilograms remains prohibited as this will be considered trafficking in narcotics.

This is the first time in Thailand that marijuana can be used legally for medical or scientific purposes despite the fact that the studies indicate the plant may possess medicinal qualities of value to some patients.

The controlled use of marijuana for medical and scientific purposes is considered an initial step which will eventually lead to wider use for other purposes.