Paul François

Paul François is a French agricultor and author,[1] who has been decorated with the Legion of Honour.[2] He is notable chiefly because he demonstrated to a court of law that he was poisoned by a Monsanto product.

The Monsanto product with which François was poisoned is known commercially as Lasso

Early life

François is a native of Bernac, Charente.

He chose to specialise in cereal agriculture from an early age.[3]

François considers himself to have been "a pure product of the chemical agriculture industry", up until his rupture with it because of his poisoning.[4]

Toxic incident
EU standard toxic symbol, as defined by Directive 67/548/EEC

François inhaled the poison on 27 April 2004. He was ill enough to spit blood when interned in hospital. As late as November that year, the long-term effects of the poison caused him to faint, and in May 2005 it was determined that monochlorobenzene—a solvent used in Lasso to dilute the Alachlor—was present in his bloodstream.[2]

Betimes, Alachlor was prohibited by the French government in November 2007.[2]

Formal recognition of hazard

An employment tribunal formally recognised in 2010 that François in fact had been poisoned.[2]

François v Monsanto

Trial division

The Monsanto product with which François was poisoned is known commercially as Lasso.[2]

In December 2011, final arguments to the court were heard.[5]

In February 2012, the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Lyon condemned Monsanto to pay damages to François.[6]

Appeal division

In 2015 at the appeal court, Monsanto lawyers repeatedly refused to concede that their product was toxic and that the damages owed were fictitious.[2]

Monsanto is fighting a nasty rear-guard action, and as of 2017, refused quantum.[7]

Author

François wrote, with Anne-Laure Barret, Un paysan contre Monsanto to document his battle against Monsanto. This book, which was released to market in October 2017, was published by Fayard press.[8]

With the benefit of hindsight, François has considered how his perspective has changed:[2]

We were never worried about the toxicity of herbicides. For us, they served as the medication for plants.

References
  1. "Paul François : biographie, actualités et émissions France Culture". France Culture (in French). Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  2. fdesouche.com: "Le combat d’un homme contre Monsanto" Archived 2018-08-29 at the Wayback Machine, 15 septembre 2015
  3. "Paul François, un céréalier à la vie "empoisonnée" par Monsanto". Libération.fr (in French). Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  4. "Paul François, l'agriculteur qui défie Monsanto : "J'étais un pur produit du tout-chimique"". Franceinfo (in French). 2015-02-23. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  5. lavie.fr: "Paul François, malade des pesticides, demande réparation à Monsanto", 06/12/2011
  6. lyonmag.com: 'Le “Lasso” de Monsanto condamné à Lyon', 13-02-2012
  7. reussir.fr: "Paul François : « Je ne suis pas tout à fait au bout de mon combat »", 26 octobre 2017
  8. leparisien.fr: "Paul François : ce paysan qui défie Monsanto", 22 octobre 2017
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