It’s big business in the US and elsewhere, with lawyers making a fortune out of class actions. The process is described as predatort. The playbook has four steps: pay scientists to create your evidence, pay activists to create public outrage, create drama on the court room stage and collect US$200 million. That all sounds familiar.

In the recent case in the US a team of lawyers fronted up to prove that paraquat, a rival product of glyphosate, caused Parkinson’s.

They had an “expert witness”, a Professor Martin Wells from prestigious Cornell University. They formed an Environmental Working Group to expose the problem. Headlines mysteriously appeared claiming “we all know what causes Parkinson’s and these companies will have to pay for it”.

The “expert witness”, Wells, claimed that “occupational exposure to paraquat can cause Parkinsons disease”.

Surprisingly, given past experience, the judge decided to question the so-called science.

She suggested that Wells only presented data to support his conclusion and that the research wasn’t credible, and that the evidence lacked scientific rigour. That the criteria for occupational exposure had not been met. She added that the claim that occupational exposure to paraquat resulted in a “near tripling of Parkinson’s disease” was unproven.

…

The case was thrown out, which was a victory for common sense. There was a judge who decided to question the science. Many don’t, which would, in itself, make manufacturers nervous.

This is an excerpt. Read the original post here