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Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science

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Date and time
Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Investigative journalist Carey Gillam writes about Monsanto, the global agri-chemical corporation, which recently merged with Bayer and is now worth $60 billion. In a recent court battle in San Francisco, the company lost against one individual groundskeeper who is dying from lymphoma. DeWayne “Lee" Johnson attributes his cancer to the use of Monsanto’s ubiquitous weedkiller,RoundUp. He won $289 million in compensation. This landmark lawsuit has opened the door for hundreds of other cancer cases to proceed to trial. For her work, Gillam received the prestigious Rachel Carson Book Award for unveiling decades of corporate secrets and deceptive tactics by powerful pesticide companies, and exposing how the corporate pursuit of profits has taken priority over protection of the public. Image: Bookcover

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Carey Gillam is a Kansas girl, of the heart and home. But her research has taken her throughout rural America. She has spent time with row crop farmers, ranchers, vegetable growers and orchard operators from the Dakotas to Texas, and from California to the Southeast. She has been welcomed inside the high-tech laboratories, greenhouses and corporate offices of some of the largest U.S. agribusinesses. And she has spent countless hours interviewing key U.S. regulators, lawmakers, and scientists. With years of this behind-the-scenes reporting, Gillam has developed deep insight into the risks and rewards of the modern-day food system, and hopes to share that knowledge with others who care about the food they eat and feed to their families.
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Sheldon Krimsky is co-editor (with Jeremy Gruber) of The GMO Deception, released June 2014. Sheldon Krimsky received his undergraduate and Master's degrees in physics from CUNY and Purdue University respectively, and his MA and PhD in philosophy from Boston University. His research is focused on the linkages between science/technology, ethics/values and public policy. Dr. Krimsky is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Council for Responsible Genetics. His distinguished record of professional service has included many appointments in the public interest: he was a member of the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee; a consultant to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, and consultant to the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. Dr. Krimsky also served on a study panel for the American Civil Liberties Union that formulated a policy on civil liberties and scientific research. And he chaired the Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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