Big Surprise ~ Big Six Found Guilty ~
After four long days of testimony, the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) has concluded that the pesticide industry’s Big 6 should be held criminally liable for violations of human rights. Not a big surprise here.
“The Tribunal has shown that human rights violations by the pesticide and biotech industry are not isolated. With impunity, they violate economic, social and cultural rights, civil and political rights, and in particular the rights of women and children,” said Sarojeni Rengam, PAN AP Executive Director, who delivered the People’s Submission.
“Current legal and policy frameworks have made it impossible for communities and vulnerable groups to access justice. That is why the PPT verdict is highly important: it [will] send a message throughout the world that a global mechanism is urgently needed to hold these TNCs accountable.”
Victims of pesticide poisoning, scientists and health experts, delivered testimonies that strongly pinpoint the culpability of Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, BASF, Dow Chemical, and DuPont in cases that range from poisoning of the Arctic region to the death of bees.
Take for example eleven-year old Paraguayan Silvino Talavera who died last January because he was exposed to glyphosate (Round-up Ready) that was being applied to Monsanto’s genetically engineered RR soybeans.
“We have proof that there was poison in his blood. We want Monsanto accountable for (his) death…,” said his mother Petrona.
Meanwhile Nagama Raman, a former oil palm plantation worker who was forced to resign because of ill health caused by paraquat spraying, asked the Tribunal Why is Paraquat still being sold and used in Malaysia if it’s banned in Syngenta’s home country of Switzerland?
The list of poisonings goes on and on:
~There are 100,000 tonnes of prohibited and obsolete pesticides in Africa, which are often stored in deteriorating and leaky containers.
~ Child labourers in India apply pesticides for years on end for a measily .50 cents a day. (For instance, it’s estimated that around 170,000 children, mostly girls, are exposed to Bayer’s endosulfan, monocrotophos, and other toxic chemicals while working in cotton plantations).
~ A U.S. scientist by the name of Dr. Tyrone Hayes, conducted studies linking the chemical atrazine to the feminization of frogs. Syngenta asked him to hide and manipulate data. They even offered to BUY his findings! But he refused to do so and was threatened and harassed repeatedly by the company.
~ Queen bees used to live at leat 3 years but now because of Bayer’s neonicotinoid pesticides they only live for 2 to 3 months, affecting not just the livelihoods of beekepers but food security.
“The testimonies of these witnesses clearly show that the Big 6 is guilty of gross, systematic, and widespread violations of human rights by what they have done and what they have failed to do. They are guilty of wilfully manufacturing and selling products that have harmed humans and the environment, of manipulating science and the truth, of violating the sovereign right of peoples. They are guilty of evading responsibility for their crimes and denying victims proper redress,” said Jobert Pahilga, a PPT prosecutor.
PAN International recommended to the PPT, the elimination of highly hazardous pesticides, the protection of genetic resources, the advancement of food sovereignty and ecological agriculture, restructuring of international financial institutions, and upholding the precautionary principle.
The PPT Session Agrochemical TNCs drew the support of individuals and organizations around the world. More than 400 organizations representing civil society and people’s organizations of farmers, fisherfolk, pastoralists, and indigenous peoples, as well as 7,000 concerned individuals signed on to a petition circulated by PAN International.
“This overwhelming show of support from around the world bolsters the legitimacy of this Tribunal as a recourse for people who have been denied justice by their own governments and international institutions that aid and abet chemical companies in their war against all forms of life,” said Rengam.
