It has been a long battle and the reward falls short. 11,135 euros after a media conflict against the pharmaceutical company Bayer for a poisoning that dates back 18 years. "11,000 euros for so much sacrifice," laments Paul François, in statements to France Info.
It is barely 1% of what Paul François claimed: one million euros. The farmer argued that the fumes he inhaled from the herbicide Lasso – a product that was later withdrawn from the French market – caused him neurological problems, including memory loss, fainting and headaches.
All in all, the French Justice has limited the compensation to 11,135 euros in a sentence that puts an end to a legal battle that has been going on since François denounced the case in 2004. A highly mediatic case in France that has come to inspire a television miniseries , Jeux d'influence (Games of influence).
Two years ago, in 2020, the French Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Lasso maker Monsanto – a subsidiary of German giant Bayer – opening the way for the Lyon City Court to decide what damages the farmer should be awarded. And this has estimated that they are the 11,000 euros mentioned.
In this sense, Bayer France has celebrated in a statement that, after all, the amount granted to the farmer has ended up being 1% of what François had requested. The company thus stresses that the legal experts have not recognized any of the "serious pathologies" alleged by the farmer.
For his part, the farmer, although he celebrates that it is the first time that the French Justice has condemned a pesticide manufacturer for poisoning a person, regrets that the entire legal battle presented has resulted in compensation of just over 11,000 euros: " They have been in limbo for more than 15 years, with sleepless nights... perhaps it would have been better to spend all this time playing the lottery," François ironically told Le Monde.
Tired and sick, the farmer, now 58 years old, concludes in the Parisian newspaper that he expected a "more just reparation" to close this long chapter of his life.
