Into The Weeds
Does the most widely used weed killer in the world cause cancer? Into the Weeds: Dewayne “Lee” Johnson vs. Monsanto Company follows the story of groundskeeper Lee Johnson and his fight for justice against agrichemical giant Monsanto (now Bayer, which bought the company in 2018), the manufacturer of the weed killer, Roundup.
In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a branch of the World Health Organization, classified glyphosate - the active ingredient in Roundup - as “probably carcinogenic to humans.” A year later, Lee Johnson filed a lawsuit claiming that Ranger Pro, a commercial-grade variant of Roundup, was a substantial contributing factor in causing his Non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Johnson’s was the first ‘bellwether’ case in a mass tort against Monsanto involving tens of thousands of plaintiffs. Blending interviews, trial footage, news coverage and vérité, the film follows the progression of this groundbreaking trial, while also telescoping out to understand both ubiquity of use and its global repercussions.
Cast
- Dewayne 'Lee' Johnson
- Cali Baldelomar
- Michelle Baldelomar
DVD Features
Bonus features:
Into the Weeds Epilogue Call to Action Featurette
Bees, Guts and Glyphosate Featurette
Monster music video
Discs: 1
- "Through deft editing and a keen sense of detail, Baichwal manages to compress the case of Johnson vs. Monsanto Company into a superbly paced, tightly wound thriller."
- "Provides another illustration of coldblooded corporate denialism in the face of widespread harm."
- "Into the Weeds effectively drives home the message that corporate greed and the lack of regulation makes victims of everyday people."
- "Extremely important, essential viewing that affects every one of us."
- "Into the Weeds is a cautionary environmental story that raises unsettling questions about what’s in the food we eat, and how our farming practices are affecting the biosphere."
- "Compulsively watchable...."
- "With plenty of both on-the-ground human interest and executive-suite skullduggery on tap, this is a highly engrossing muckrake."
Awards & Recognition
Hot Docs Int'l. Film Festival
Hamptons Int'l. Film Festival
Denver Film Festival