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Article

14 Jan 2022

Author:
April Siese, Daily Kos (USA)

USA: Monsanto pleads guilty to endangering employees with dangerous pesticide in Hawaii

"Monsanto pleads guilty to endangering employees with dangerous pesticide in Hawaii", 10 Jan 2022

The Monsanto Company recently pleaded guilty to a smattering of environmental crimes related to its use of a pesticide known as Forfeit 280. Last week, a District Court accepted the terms, which require Monsanto to pay $12 million in fines after it was found to have used the pesticide and, on 30 occasions, allowed workers to enter fields following its spraying…

Yet another violation from the Monsanto Company came from using the banned pesticide Penncap-M at its Valley Farm facility in Kihei, where the chemical was sprayed on corn seeds and research crops…The company also illegally stored more than 100 gallons of Penncap-M in its Valley, Maalaea, and Piilani locations on Maui…

…Even in the case of endangering workers with Forfeit 280, Monsanto isn’t exactly apologizing for its conduct. In a statement released early last month, Monsanto simply said it “regretted” sending workers into Forfeit 280-saturated fields, using banned pesticides, and illegally storing its stockpile of Penncap-M.

The fight against GMO companies has been a long one for Hawaiian communities. As the Honolulu Civil-Beat notes, the millions of dollars in penalties against Monsanto might not mean a whole lot (Monsanto is on the Fortune 500 and boasts assets exceeding $21 billion), but admitting to 30 infractions could certainly reignite the anti-GMO movement in Hawaii and potentially push lawmakers to introduce bills requiring additional oversight and restrictions…