A farmer in France has won his case against Monsanto, at least for now.
The agrochemical company was again found guilty, this time by an appeal court, of poisoning cereal farmer Paul Francois after he inhaled the firm’s weedkiller.
Mr Francois claims that he suffered neurological damage after inhaling Monsanto’s Lasso weedkiller fumes in 2004 when he was using the chemical on his maize crop.
He argued that Monsanto was aware of the dangers of Lasso well before it was taken off the French market in 2007. Prior to this, Lasso was withdrawn in Canada in 1985 and later banned in Belgium and the UK in 1992.
Lasso contains high levels of highly toxic monochlorobenzene.
In 2012 a French court found that Monsanto was “responsible”. The appeal court on Thursday upheld this verdict and ordered Monsanto to fully compensate Mr Francois.
He welcomed the decision, saying that "David can win against Goliath... And a giant like Monsanto is not above the law."
Monsanto has been saying all along that its product is not dangerous. It said it would appeal the appeal decision.
"The decision is very surprising given the inaccuracies and errors that dot Paul Francois's evidence," said Monsanto's lawyer Jean-Daniel Bretzner.
"But this is just another step and the discussion is going to go on and the fight will go on," he added.
