b'I n1986,Congresspassed,andDennis $332 million in damages against PresidentRonaldReagansignedMonsanto/Bayer for the non-Hodgkins into law, the National Childhoodlymphoma that his decades of RoundupVaccine Injury Act, which grant- use caused him to develop. edvaccinemanufacturersimmunityThen, on January 26, 2024, a Philadel-from lawsuits alleging vaccine injuriesphia jury gave its verdict that awarded or deaths. An administrative system of$2.25 billion to plaintiff John McKivison, VaccineCourtswasestablishedunderwho was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins theU.S.CourtofFederalClaimstolymphomaafterusingRoundupfor process any claims of injuries, but thesetwenty years.panels were just a thin veneer slappedInterestinglyenough,intheDennis ontothelegislationtoensurethatallcase, the jury actually found that while such claims would end up in a cul-de- Bayerfailedtoprovidewarningsof sac with little or no recompense. In fact,the National Childhood Vaccine Injury ActRoundups risks, the product itself was two-thirds of all vaccine-injury claimsof 1986 affords vaccine manufacturers, bigneither defective nor the company negli-submitted to these courts are denied.agricultural corporations like Monsantogent. It would seem, then, that the most And, yet, even with that major hurdle,(now Bayer) that literally spread glyphosateeffective legal argument to use against in the several decades since the vaccinepoisons far and wide across the Globe havethe pesticide industry was the industrys courts were established, over $5 billionhad to continually look over their shoul- failure to warn consumers of the health in awards have been paid to vaccine-in- ders in fear of litigation. The large litiga- dangers in using its products. Now, if jured claimants. tion reserves on company balance sheets,the pesticide industry could only elimi-But thats not all. Lawsuit immunitywhich have increased with every year fromnate that cause of action from legal com-greatly encouraged vaccine manufactur- 2014-2017, attest to this. So, given the ex- plaints, then it just might find a way out ers to develop and market an increasingtremely toxic nature of glyphosate, it wasfrom under the avalanche of lawsuits and numberofvaccines.Unsurprisingly,inevitable, then, that lawsuits would becrushing jury awards.when you make any commodity liabil- filed against Monsanto and others for the ity free to manufacturers, it will quiteserious harms wreaked by Roundup. A Page out of the naturally encourage more productionVaccine Playbookand marketing of that commodity with- So, apparently, Bayer hatched a clever out the proper safety studies. After all,scheme to introduce legislation in the why the need for diligent care when youvariousStatelegislaturescarvingout cannot be sued if anything goes wrong? legal immunity for itself when it comes So, from the 1950s, when children re- to failing to warn consumers about the ceived only 2-3 vaccinations until 1980,dangers of its pesticide products. Bayer when children got 8 shots, after 1986, thelobbyists helpfully assisted in wording vaccine tally ballooned up to 49 dosesthe legislation and in arguing in favor of of 14 vaccines by the age of six in 2012!its passage. The bill introduced first in Of course, it didnt hurt this growth in- In fact, Monsanto and Bayer have beenIdaho was seen nationally as the test case dustry at all that the Centers for Diseasehammered by more than 18,000 plaintiffsfor these kinds of bills and used wording Control and Prevention (CDC) placedfiling lawsuits alleging harm from theirsimilar to the wording in bills currently some 70 vaccines on its recommendedpesticide products. Some of the lawsuitsbeing pushed in Iowa and Missouri.list, or that as of 2017 the CDC itselfhave seen large jury awards handed toInIdaho,Senate Bill 1245wasnick-had become a drug company holdingthose plaintiffs. In the Johnson case, Har- namedthePesticideImmunityBill. at least20 patentsfor various vaccinedeman case, and the Pilliod case, juriesApproved on February 7, 2024, after a developments, manufacturing, delivery,awarded $289.2 million, $80 million, and5-3 vote in the Idaho Senate Commerce and adjuvants. 1Not coincidentally, the$2.055 billion in damages, respectively.&HumanResourcesCommittee,the number of vaccine injured exploded asAll of these awards, however, were re- bill went down to defeat in the full Sen-well. duced by the presiding judges. ate on February 15th by a vote of 19-15 Still,thelawsuitsandjudgmentsdespite the urgings of the Bayer corporate Monsanto/Bayeragainst Monsanto/Bayer kept coming.lobbyist. The bill would have given pes-Battered by Lawsuits Fast forward to October 31, 2023, whenticide manufacturers immunity against Without the shelter from liability thata San Diego jury awarded plaintiff Mikeliability for the distribution and sale of any H ealtHF reedomN ews /s priNg2024 7'