Roundup litigation discovery documents: implications for public health and journal ethics
Abstract
This paper reviews the court-released discovery documents obtained from litigation against Monsanto over its herbicide Roundup and through Freedom of Information Act requests (requests to regulatory agencies and public universities in the United States). We sought evidence of corporate malfeasance and undisclosed conflicts of interest with respect to issues of scientific integrity. The findings include evidence of ghostwriting, interference in journal publication, and undue influence of a federal regulatory agency.
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Monsanto funded academic studies, engaged in ghostwriting of scholarly journal articles, and prepared presentations for the academics it sponsored.
“The firm funded academic studies and engaged in ghostwriting of scholarly journal articles, and even prepared presentations for the academics it sponsored (Krimsky and Gillam 2018).”
From Corporate concentration and power matter for agency in food systems (2025) · cites this paper as Krimsky and Gillam 2018
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- Authors
- Krimsky, S., & Gillam, C.
- Affiliations
- Tufts University (US)
- U.S. Right to Know (US)
- Corresponding author
- Krimsky, Sheldon
- ORCID
- Krimsky, Sheldon
- Venue
- Journal of Public Health Policy
- Published
- 2018-06-08
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 318-326
- ISSN
- 0197-5897 (ISSN-L)
- 1745-655X
- OpenAlex
- W2806191778
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 7 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 0.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Journal of Public Health Policy (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Pharmacology › Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Academic integrity and plagiarism
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology
- Keywords
- Monsanto, glyphosate, Freedom of Information Act, scientific integrity, ghostwriting, conflicts of interest, corporate misconduct, corporate influence on science, public health
- MeSH terms
- Glyphosate, Authorship, Chemical Industry, Glycine, Herbicides, Humans, Periodicals as Topic, Public Health, United States, Liability, Legal, Access to Information
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