The Hamas War > Casualties from Oct 7th massacre still counting by dozens of suicides

 

Nearly 50 attendees of Israel’s Nova festival died by suicide

since Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack, survivor says

By 

Social Links forYaron Steinbuch

Published April 16, 2024

 Updated April 16, 2024, 12:39 p.m. ET

Nearly 50 died by suicide since Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack, survivor claims

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Nearly 50 traumatized revelers who survived the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival in Israel have died by suicide in the last six months because they were unable to cope with the tragedy, a survivor revealed Tuesday.

“Few people know, but there have been almost 50 suicides among the Nova survivors. This number, which was true two months ago, may have increased since,” Nova festival survivor Guy Ben Shimon told a parliamentary hearing for a State Audit Commission on the treatment of the Oct. 7 survivors.

He said many of his friends who escaped the massacre could not recover from what they had witnessed, I24NEWS reported.

Guy Ben Shimon spoke at the parliamentary hearing for a State Audit Commission on the treatment of the Oct. 7 survivors.

The Knesset Channel

“There are many survivors who had to be forcibly hospitalized due to their psychological state. My friends are not getting out of bed, neither am I,” he said in Hebrew.

"I am practically unable to do anything. I had to get a dog to help me survive in my daily life. The goal for all of us is to return to work and function normally, but we cannot do it without adequate help,” Ben Shimon added.

People visit the site of the Nova festival, six months after the deadly October 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, in Reim, southern Israel, April 7, 2024.

REUTERS

The hearing focused on alleged failures by state entities toward the survivors of the Hamas attack on the Jewish state.

Complaints have been made about a variety of difficulties, mostly bureaucratic, that the survivors faced in getting their post-traumatic stress disorder recognized and treated, according to the outlet.

“Why should I constantly prove what I experienced? Why am I forced to go back to the details of what I experienced for them to believe me?” another survivor, Naama Eitan, told the hearing.

“I participated in a study that monitored my pulse and other parameters and revealed how bad my health is. I sleep on average two hours a night. Each morning at 7 o’clock, I relive the moments when I was hidden in the bushes with terrorists passing by me. I can no longer move on my own, I need to be constantly accompanied,” she said.

The Israeli Ministry of Health said it does not have information to corroborate the claim about the suicides.

During the attack, 364 people were slaughtered at the Nova Music Festival in the Negev desert. Some 600,000 Israelis have been waiting for psychological support since Oc. 7, i24NEWS reported, citing recent studies.

​

If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.

ER Visits for Self-Harming Doubles in 8 Years in Ontario - Why?

Some good theories listed below, but they are missing the most obvious

'New 18 now is 28': How screens delay teens' emotional maturity

Amina Zafar · CBC News 

Researchers said emergency department visits by those aged 13 to 17 in Ontario rose from 2009 to 2017, based on national data. Girls tend to show a greater willingness to seek mental health care than boys. (Shutterstock)

The number of teens who went to emergency departments in Ontario for injuring or poisoning themselves doubled from 2009 to 2017 — a surprisingly sharp rise, say Canadian health-care providers. They are calling for better ways to connect young people with mental health services.

Increasing rates of self-harm among teens in Canada, the U.S., Australia and Europe are a concern in part because those who deliberately harm themselves are at greater risk for repeated injury or for suicide.

In a study published this week in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, researchers looked at emergency department visits by those aged 13 to 17 in Ontario, based on national data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

"The number of kids who have at least one visit for self-harm in a given year basically doubled from 2009 to 2017 after it had been falling consistently from 2003 to 2009," said William Gardner, a senior scientist at the CHEO Research Institute who holds a senior research chair in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Ottawa.

Mental-health visits for anxiety and depression also rose starting in 2009.

Both the self-harm and anxiety trends pose a huge and worsening strain on the mental-health system for young people, Gardner said.

The big question is why. Gardner speculated on three potential reasons:

The launch of the iPhone in Canada in 2008 and rising smartphone use and engagement in social media.

The financial downturn in 2008 and its lingering damage through job losses and family instability.

A greater willingness to seek help after campaigns to reduce the stigma of mental illness.

Smartphones facilitated shifts in how people of all ages socialize.

We can do a better job of taking kids who show up in the

emergency department with mental health problems

and getting them into care in their community.

—  William Gardner

"For a certain group of vulnerable adolescents, kids who are at risk for various social and psychological problems already, a lot of them describe the experience of constant exposure to social anxiety [and] to bullying by peers as very stressful, and so that could be the cause of some of these problems."

For most people, Gardner believes, being online isn't terribly harmful. 

'The new 18 now is 28' because there is a delay in the emotional and social awareness and maturation of adult skills, says Dr. Chris Wilkes. (CBC)

In hospitals, decreasing stigma could also mean physicians who see a laceration on the arm now ask, "Did you cut yourself?" Previously, the question wasn't asked, and the cut would be classified as an injury, Gardner said.

But emergency departments aren't suited for teens needing continuing mental-health care.

"We can do a better job of taking kids who show up in the emergency department with mental health problems and getting them into care in their community."

Continuing a long-standing pattern, the increases in self-harm and emergency visits were higher among females than males.

In focus groups, girls often complain of incessant pressure to present a perfect image on Instagram, as well as a greater willingness to seek out care than boys, Gardner said.

Boys' aggression a 'mental health problem'

The problems boys face tend to manifest differently, such as trouble controlling their anger.

"They will get involved in various kinds of aggressive and deviant activities that could lead them to trouble with the criminal justice system, and we don't talk about those things as mental health problems but in many ways they are."

The study was excellent in its portrayal of a dramatic increase in self-harm happening across Canada, said Dr. Chris Wilkes. He heads the child and adolescent psychiatry division at the University of Calgary and wasn't involved in the research.

"What we say in the area of children's mental health and adolescent psychiatry is that the new 18 now is 28 because there is a delay in the emotional and social awareness and maturation of adult skills."

I have been expecting this for several years. Not because of social media - although I'm sure that is responsible for a lot of mental health issues, especially in young girls, but because of pot use. Check out this brief post from 2015 - 28% of 11-15 Year Olds Using Pot in Canada - Highest Rate in the World

Pot delays, or stops cold, the maturing process especially in children. Perhaps not all children but certainly enough to make it very obvious to anyone who bothers to look. There are numerous posts on this blog dealing with this concept and the well-known fact that pot triggers schizophrenia in as many as 1 in 6 teens.

Read eyes, not screens

More adolescents are living at home longer, often glued to screens. Wilkes called it a paradox that people have never been more connected yet alone. Online connections are no replacement for learning to read another person's eyes — in person.

"Emotional maturation takes time and it takes real experiences with relationships, and if you spend more and more time on screen time, you have less opportunities to practise these skills."

More broadly, Wilkes said, poorer teen relationships with parents, relatives and friends may have combined with cultural shifts to greater materialism and narcissism. Learning delayed gratification is at risk of being lost. 

Wilkes called Calgary ahead of the curve in providing walk-in mental health services in the community, in addition to national resources such as Sen. Stan Kutcher's teenmentalhealth.org.

On the front lines, school-based programs offer the best bang for the buck in prevention, he said.

"For every dollar you invest in early development you save $4 to $9 by reduced costs in education, justice, reduced mental health utilization and better employment prospects."

The future lies in integrating mental health and emergency department services, family and community resource hubs, acute care at home and peer support, Wilkes said.

Rates of self-harm visits in the study rose from 1.8 per 1,000 in 2009 to 4.2 per 1,000 by 2017. Over the same period, mental health visits increased from 13.5 per 1,000 to 24.1.

The teen research was funded by an unrestricted grant from the ScotiaBank Foundation.

Where to get help:

Canada Suicide Prevention Service: 1-833-456-4566 (phone) | 45645 (text) | crisisservicescanada.ca (chat).

In Quebec (French): Association québécoise de prévention du suicide: 1-866-APPELLE (1-866-277-3553).

Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 (phone), www.kidshelpphone.ca (live chat counselling).

Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention: Find a 24-hour crisis centre.

Canada Sees No Cancer Risk from Monsanto’s Roundup Weed Killer

Nothing I could say here that would not put me at risk of being sued

Oh, Canada

© Reuters / Benoit Tessier

Canadian farmers will continue using glyphosate after Health Canada concluded that the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer poses no human risks.

The federal agency dismissed eight notices of objection and assertions made in the so-called Monsanto Papers in 2017.

“After a thorough scientific review, we have concluded that the concerns raised by the objectors could not be scientifically supported when considering the entire body of relevant data. The objections raised did not create doubt or concern regarding the scientific basis for the 2017 re-evaluation decision for glyphosate,” Health Canada said in a press release.

The 2017 re-evaluation determined that glyphosate is not genotoxic and is unlikely to pose a human cancer risk. It also determined that dietary exposure associated with the use of glyphosate is not expected to pose a risk of concern to human health. When used according to revised label directions, glyphosate products are not expected to pose risks of concern to the environment, according to the study.

Health Canada said it has selected a group of 20 of its own scientists who were not involved in the 2017 decision to evaluate the eight objections and the concerns raised publicly around glyphosate. The agency said its scientists “left no stone unturned in conducting” the review.

The agency noted that it “had access to numerous individual studies and raw scientific data during its assessment of glyphosate, including additional cancer and genotoxicity studies.” It added that it will “continue to monitor for new information related to glyphosate, including regulatory actions from other governments, and will take appropriate action if risks of concern to human health or the environment are identified.”

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, which is the most popular weed killer in the US. German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer, which bought Monsanto last year, disclosed earlier that lawsuits from 9,300 plaintiffs were pending at the end of October. The lawsuits alleged that the company’s recently acquired weed-killing product caused cancer.

The surge in lawsuits followed the $289-million California court verdict when Monsanto was ordered to pay damages to a man who alleged its glyphosate-based weed killers, including Roundup, caused his cancer.

Bayer rejected all the accusations, claiming there are hundreds of scientific studies and regulatory authorities that show glyphosate, the compound contained in the weed killers, is safe to use.

And how many of those studies were funded by Monsanto? I'm guessing, all of them!

Dead & Duct-Taped Saudi Sisters Found on Banks of Hudson Could Be… a Suicide?

The Farea sisters. © AFP / NYPD

Two Saudi sisters found dead and duct-taped together on the banks of New York’s Hudson River were seen praying near the water hours before their bodies were found, in a baffling case that police say shows no signs of foul play.

The sisters, Rotana Farea (22) and Tala Farea (16) were discovered on October 24 on the banks of the river, having gone missing two months previously from Fairfax, Virginia, where they lived with their family. So far, the investigation has revealed that the sisters traveled from Washington DC to Philadelphia, before arriving New York City on September 1.

At a press conference on Friday, police said they had "no credible information” that any crime took place, but confirmed that their probe is ongoing. Investigators tracked the girls’ last movements using credit card records, which showed that they had “maxed out” a card staying in a number of “high end” hotels in New York, where they ordered meals for two people every day in the days leading to their deaths.

The sisters were found tied face-to-face with duct tape at the waist and feet, were fully clothed and their bodies showed no obvious signs of trauma, which likely rules out a theory that they could have jumped together from the George Washington Bridge.

Some kind of suicide is still a leading theory in the sisters’ deaths, however. Water found in their lungs made it “entirely credible” that they entered the water while still alive.

Applied for political asylum

The baffling case took on an added air of mystery when it was revealed that the sisters’ mother told police that she had received a phone call from the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington DC the day before the sisters were found. During the call, a Saudi embassy official instructed her family to leave the US, due to the fact that her daughters had applied for political asylum, she claimed.

Police also revealed that a man who frequently exercises along the riverbank told them that he had seen the girls sitting about 30 feet apart in a playground with their heads in their hands and making “praying” noises on the same day that they were later found dead – an image that the witness said has been "haunting" him since.

Tala and Rotana moved to the US with their mother in 2015. Rotana had been enrolled at George Mason University but left in the spring.

Physical abuse

The two had previously been placed in a shelter after another disappearance in 2017, reportedly asking police not to reveal their location. On Friday, police confirmed that reports of physical abuse within the family had been made at that time, but did not elaborate.

Sources in Virginia who were not family members told the police that the sisters had said they would rather harm themselves or commit suicide than return to Saudi Arabia.

According to some media reports, 16-year-old Tala had reportedly been offered a place at a top school in Saudi Arabia but desperately did not want to go.

The Saudi consulate in New York said it had "appointed an attorney to follow the case closely,” while the Saudi embassy in Washington contacted the family and “extended its support and aid in this trying time.”

It certainly appears the family was preparing to return to Saudi Arabia and the girls were prepared to accept death rather than that. What a shame!

Monsanto Leaks Suggest It Tried to ‘Kill’ Cancer Research about Notorious Weed Killer

© Yves Herman / Reuters

Controversial agricultural giant Monsanto attempted to ‘kill’ research on Roundup weed killer, which is suspected of causing cancer, leaked documents show. The company also reportedly influenced EPA officials to conceal information about the cancer risks.

A trove of documents was released by LA-based plaintiff firm Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman earlier in August. The company is representing people who claimed that they or their relatives got cancer due to Monsanto products. 

In particular, the case concerns the notorious Roundup, a non-selective herbicide which kills weeds that compete with agricultural crops. Its active ingredient is called glyphosate.

The documents, mostly emails between Monsanto executives and researchers working for or connected with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are dated between 1999 and 2016.

For example, in one email Donna Farmer, a Monsanto scientist, insists to an expert that “glyphosate and Roundup cannot be used interchangeably.”

“For example you cannot say that Roundup is not a carcinogen ... we have not done the necessary testing on the formulation to make that statement,” she wrote.

In another set of emails Monsanto Executive William Heydens edits a manuscript on the effects of Roundup from an expert consultant.

The majority of the edits concern theories and speculation of possible links between glyphosate and cancer.

“This is a look behind the curtain,” attorney Brent Wisner said. “This show[s] that Monsanto has deliberately been stopping studies that look bad for them, ghostwriting literature and engaging in a whole host of corporate malfeasance.

“They [Monsanto] have been telling everybody that these products are safe because regulators have said they are safe, but it turns out that Monsanto has been in bed with US regulators while misleading European regulators,” he added.

Monsanto said that the plaintiffs’ legal team committed a “flagrant violation” of confidentiality by releasing the trove, and has asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit as a result. The corporation also says that the documents misrepresent its modus operandi.

The EPA’s Report of the Cancer Assessment Review Committee on glyphosate from 2015 addressed the cancer risks of the substance in a neutral way. The committee concluded that the substance has no connection with many types of tumors, and cautiously said that “there is conflicting evidence” that glyphosate causes non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL), a type of blood cancer. 

NHL is a primary concern for glyphosate as Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman plaintiffs claim that they got this exact type of cancer after exposure to the substance.

According to the group, more than 900 people across the US who have been diagnosed with NHL are suing Monsanto.

The description of glyphosate on the EPA website still appears to be positive, saying that it has “low toxicity for humans.”

The biotech corporation, which on its website claims to help farmers “grow food more sustainably,” has been at the center of scandals in recent years. There have been scores of anti-Monsanto petitions and stories of people who claimed to have been affected by the company’s products.

The corporate giant has been also at the center of reports claiming it has influence with the US government and, thus, avoids lawsuits.

The anger with the corporation went global with the start of the March Against Monsanto movement in 2013. The initiative launched rallies against ‘Monsanto poison’ across the globe, with thousands of people joining. “Keep GMOs out of your genes,” says the slogan of the movement, whose Facebook page has gathered 1.4 million likes so far. 

Europe appears to be “a force of resistance” against the corporation. In June, more than 1 million people signed a petition calling to ban glyphosate, according to the European Citizens Initiative, which launched the campaign.  The document was submitted to 28 national European authorities.

"European citizens aren’t fooled by the pesticide industry’s lobbying efforts or the faulty science it’s peddling,” David Schwartz, ECI coordinator at WeMove.EU, said. 

The rising criticism of Monsanto also resulted in a 2014 documentary, claiming that the company has contributed to over 290,000 suicides by Indian farmers over the last 20 years. Farmers were allegedly forced to grow GM cotton instead of traditional crops, agricultural scientist Dr. G. V. Ramanjaneyulu, of the Center For Sustainable Agriculture, told a team from RT’s documentary channel, RTD, which traveled to India to learn about the issue. The seeds were so expensive and demanded so much more maintenance that farmers often went bankrupt and killed themselves.

The idea here is that Monsanto is trying to get control of the 'seed market' for the entire world whereupon they can charge anything they like for the seeds.They sell their GM products as being the salvation of the world and attempt to convince governments to force all farmers to use their products. GM wheat was an obvious disaster for India and India should sue Monsanto although the authorities would have to have clean hands which is a little unlikely.

One of the recent scandals around Monsanto involves its alleged hiring, through third parties, of an army of internet trolls to counter negative comments. These trolls were reportedly tasked with citing positive “ghost-written” pseudo-scientific reports which downplay the potential risks of Monsanto products, including Roundup.

Monsanto even reportedly targeted all online materials and even social media comments that indicate potential dangers of its products, according to several plaintiffs’ lawsuits. 

One of Monsanto’s most well-known attempts to seemingly hush-up “wrong” science concerns was in March 2015, when the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) released a report which classified glyphosate as a possible carcinogen.

Monsanto promptly said that it “strongly disagrees with IARC’s classification of glyphosate” and demanded it be retracted with its “erroneous classification”.  

No scientific report has definitively concluded that Roundup, which has been on the market since 1974, causes cancer. This fact is especially noted in every Monsanto press release on the issue. The statements are usually supported by a pile of scientific articles claiming the harmless effects of glyphosate. One of the positive facts around the herbicide is that it helps to tackle climate change, the company claims.

By reducing the surplus population?

470 People ‘Die of Grief’ in Wake of Indian Politician’s Death – Party Claims

In the "Whaaaat?" category...

People pay homage to the body of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaraman, who died on Monday, in Chennai, India, December 6, 2016. © Adnan Abidi / Reuters

Nearly 500 people have died because they were “unable to bear the death” of one of India’s most powerful politicians, Jayalalithaa, her party said. However many people are questioning the claim

Thousands mourn death of leader from

India's 3rd-largest party

Jayalalithaa Jayaram, commonly referred to as Jayalalithaa or Amma (mother), passed away at the age of 68 on December 5 after more than two months in hospital. She served five terms as the Chief Minister of the state of Tamil Nadu between 1991 and 2016.

A former actress who starred in around 140 films, Jayalalithaa was a Tamil cultural icon whose life was more unbelievable than even the most dramatic screenplay.

She was brought into politics by former Tamil movie star and state chief minister, MG Ramachandran.

In 2000 she was convicted of embezzlement and monetary fraud and had to spent time in jail. She was elected the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the third time in the 2011.

On Sunday, AIADMK said that 470 people died due to the shock and grief of her passing.

"[In] total 470 people died, unable to bear the death of Puratchi Thalaivi Amma, Rs 3 lakh ($4445.44) aid will be given to each family,” the party tweeted.

3 lakh is a lot of money in India. I think I might have lost a family member or two also.

The tweet garnered a huge number of sarcastic responses as numerous people took to social media to express skepticism about the number of people supposedly dying because of overwhelming grief.

"People don't die of shock over their own mother's death but here we are told 280 died of shock over Jayalalithaa's demise. Too much to believe," Anshul Saxena said.

Especially when she's been dying for two months. Seriously!

Many more questioned where the money would be coming from to pay the families and labeled the idea a scam.

The party previously said it would be pay the medical expenses of a man who attempted to kill himself when news of her illness was released. The bill is reportedly Rs 50,000 ($741). They also said they would be paying a similar amount to a man who chopped his finger off when she died.

Strangely that wasn’t the first time someone chopped off a finger for Jayalalithaa. In 2003 a man made one of his an offering at a Hindu temple so that she would live a long life.

How did that work out?

Not sure how to critique this, but it's certainly apparent that Muslims are not the only people prone to hysteria. But I suspect, as many Tweeters do, that this is one big scam. Poverty causes people to do some pretty desperate things; pretending you're dead for a big check is not so far fetched.

Instead of honouring her, they make a mockery of her.

Monsanto to Face ‘Tribunal’ in The Hague for ‘Damage to Human Health and Environment’

It will be interesting to see how much Monsanto pays attention to this, and how much the American media will pay attention to it. My guess it, 'not much' on both counts.

© Mal Langsdon / Reuters

A global group of professionals, scientists and environmentalists – the Monsanto Tribunal – are preparing a trial for the GMO seed giant in The Hague. They say the crowdfunded action, determined to charge Monsanto with “ecocide,” is more than a symbolic move.

The Monsanto Tribunal’s goal is to research and evaluate all of the allegations made against Monsanto in connection to all the damages its products have caused to human health and the environment. It is scheduled to be held at The Hague from October 12 to 16 in 2016. The trial will wrap up on next year’s World Food Day.

One of the main goals the broad group of signees [ABOUT US] wants the tribunal to achieve is establishing “ecocide” as a crime. “Recognizing ecocide as a crime is the only way to guarantee the right of humans to a healthy environment and the right of nature to be protected,” The International Monsanto Tribunal says on its website.

The Tribunal will look into a range of charges, including what it says are Monsanto’s crimes against nature and humanity.

“The Tribunal will rely on the ‘Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights’ adopted at the UN in 2011. It will also assess potential criminal liability on the basis of the Rome Statue (Statute) that created the International Criminal Court in The Hague in 2002, and it will consider whether a reform of international criminal law is warranted to include crimes against the environment, or ecocide, as a prosecutable criminal offense, so that natural persons could incur criminal liability.”

Several bodies and groups are supporting the initiative, including the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), IFOAM International Organics, Navdanya, Regeneration International (RI), and Millions Against Monsanto, as well as dozens more farming and environmental groups.

The decision to proceed with the tribunal was announced by the groups shortly before the Sustainable Pulse report was published, which was part of the COP21 UN Conference on Climate Change that runs until December 11 in Paris.

“The time is long overdue for a global citizens’ tribunal to put Monsanto on trial for crimes against humanity and the environment. We are in Paris this month to address the most serious threat that humans have ever faced in our 100-200,000 year evolution—global warming and climate disruption,” the president of the Organic Consumers Association, Ronnie Cummins, said at the press conference.

Meanwhile, president of IFOAM and member of the RI Steering Committee Andre Leu accused Monsanto of ignoring the human and environmental damage created by its products. Leu added that the transnational is able to maintain its devastating practices “by lobbying regulatory agencies and governments, by resorting to lying and corruption, by financing fraudulent scientific studies, by pressuring independent scientists, and by manipulating the press and media.”

“Monsanto’s history reads like a text-book case of impunity, benefiting transnational corporations and their executives, whose activities contribute to climate and biosphere crises and threaten the safety of the planet,” Leu stressed.

The American-based company has enjoyed a good reputation in the US media and is known for its strong ties on Capitol Hill.

The Monsanto Tribunal argues that the company is responsible for the depletion of soil and water resources, species extinction, and declining biodiversity, as well as the displacement of millions of small farmers worldwide.

Farmers in certain countries have been taking these developments very hard. In India, an alarming wave of suicides tied to Monsanto’s practices has been registered among farmers.

Instead of traditional crops, farmers have been forced to grow GM cotton, which is more expensive and requires additional maintenance. In the last 20 years, this trend has driven some 290,000 farmers to commit suicide due to bankruptcy, according to India’s national crimes bureau records.

Subjecting Monsanto to real legal consequences will be a challenge, though, as the corporation has never lost a case.

The company is notorious for routinely suing farmers, which has earned it the reputation of a legal bully in the eyes of critics. According to Food Democracy Now, the GMO corporation has filed 145 lawsuits since 1997, because farmers had reused their seeds in a manner inconsistent with Monsanto policies. This even includes cases where the farmers themselves had sued Monsanto for the inadvertent cross-pollination of their organic crops with GMO seeds.

One lawsuit representing 300,000 farmers was thrown out of court – for the mere reason that the farmers had already been sued by Monsanto. According to Food Democracy Now, the judge called the farmers’ case “unsubstantiated.”

Untold damage has also been caused to the ecosphere by the dying-off of 970 million Monarch butterflies since 1990. The herbicides Monsanto sells eradicate a range of the prolific pollinators’ natural food sources. The statistic was released by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in February.

People demonstrated in over 400 major cities across the world in May to tell the GMO giant they do not want its produce in their food. It was the third global March Against Monsanto (MAM).