Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Water use · Germany · 2015–2025

Greens report: parts of German glyphosate assessment copied Monsanto file

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 2 none on record · 2 insufficient · 1 not measured See the gaps

A Greens/EFA report says up to half of some sections of Germany's BfR glyphosate assessment were taken from Monsanto's licence application file. The sources reviewed do not show whether the safety assessments of the weedkiller glyphosate were independent.

What?
A Greens/EFA report says part of Germany's BfR glyphosate assessment was copied from Monsanto's file, and a 2000 review built on unpublished Monsanto studies was withdrawn in 2025.
Where?
Germany (BfR), the European Union and the United States (EPA)
When?
Emails from about 2015; BfR assessment January 2019; 2000 review withdrawn November 2025
Who?
Gained
  • Monsanto — Employed former FDA official Michael Taylor and former EPA official Linda Fisher at different times (revolving door) Wikipedia
  • Monsanto — Its licence application text was reportedly reproduced in the BfR glyphosate assessment
Lost
None on record
Harmed
None on record
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Licence application text reportedly used in a government risk assessment; a review's authorship concealed Monsanto staff
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Greens/EFA reported in January 2019 that up to 50% of some sections of Germany's BfR glyphosate assessment were copied from the Monsanto licence application file.

A 2000 review by Williams, Kroes and Munro, which found glyphosate safe, was withdrawn in November 2025; US Right to Know said it relied only on unpublished Monsanto studies and did not declare Monsanto staff as authors.

Michael Taylor moved from the FDA to Monsanto and back to the FDA, and Linda Fisher moved from the EPA to Monsanto; Taylor was cleared of conflict-of-interest charges (Wikipedia; FarmingUK).

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: a Monsanto email relays EPA official Jess Rowland as saying 'If I can kill this I should get a medal' about another agency's glyphosate review; the remark comes through a Monsanto employee and was not checked against the original.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: a Monsanto email (about 2015) says that writing papers in-house and having outside scientists sign them would cut costs.
    • None on record An inspector general review was reportedly opened into the Rowland remark; its outcome is not stated in the sources reviewed.
    • None on record BfR's response to the Greens/EFA report is not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Terms used on this page

    Institutions

    EPA
    The US Environmental Protection Agency.

    Science and environment

    PFOA (C8) and PFAS
    PFAS are a large family of human-made chemicals that persist in the environment and the body; PFOA, also called C8, is one of them and was used to make Teflon.
    Similar cases
    Agriculture, livestock and food · Water use · Chemical pollution · Protected area / relocation · Netherlands · 1990–2026
    Dutch nitrogen crisis and farm buyouts
    Same type: Water useSame countryHarm to nature not measured
    Chemical pollution · Water use · United States · 1959–2010
    Phosphate detergents and Lake Erie eutrophication; phosphate bans
    Same type: Water useSame countryHarm to nature not measured
    Chemical pollution · Water use · Germany · 2015–2039
    K+S: Werra salt discharge and Monte Kali
    Same type: Water useSame countryHarm to nature not measured
    Water use · Germany · 2023
    German waters hold 1.6 million tonnes of munitions; Baltic to be disposal pilot
    Same type: Water useSame countryHarm to nature not measured
    Law, regulation and treaties · Water use · Spain · 2022–2026
    Mar Menor legal personhood (Spain)
    Same type: Water useSame regionHarm to nature not measured
    Data centre · Water use · Spain · 2022–2026
    Amazon's water-positive pledge and a leaked 2022 memo
    Same type: Water useSame regionHarm to nature not measured