$80 Million Verdict Against Monsanto Highlights The Cancer-Causing Dangers of Roundup

Monsanto’s popular weed killer Roundup is not just killing weeds. People who used the herbicide are dying too. An $80 million jury verdict against Monsanto in California highlights the cancer-causing dangers of Roundup.

A jury in San Francisco found that Roundup was a substantial factor in a California man’s cancer. Jurors awarded him $80 million in damages in March, USA Today reported.

Edwin Hardeman, 70, told the court he used Roundup products to treat overgrowth, poison oak, and weeds on his property for decades. Lawyers for Hardeman argued the glyphosate-based herbicide was a “substantial factor” in causing his non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Monsanto, a giant agribusiness recently acquired by the German company Bayer, faces thousands of lawsuits across the country. Bayer is to appeal the verdict.

A jury in California awarded Dewayne Johnson $289 million in damages last year in the first Monsanto Roundup case. The former school groundskeeper is dying from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. His case was expedited.

In December, Johnson agreed to accept $78 million in damages, after the judge substantially reduced the jury’s original award.

Johnson, a former schools groundskeeper and pest-control manager developed a strange rash that later resulted in a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in August 2014.

Johnson accepted the reduced award because he did not believe he would live long enough for a second trial.

A report on NPR noted as many as 8,000 lawsuits are pending over Roundup. The lawsuits relate to the presence of glyphosate in the weed killer. This is one of the most widely used herbicides in the U.S. and the world, according to the National Pesticide Information Center, which warns the herbicide has “carcinogenic potential.”

The finding is in line with that of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of the World Health Organization. It concluded glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen.

USA Today noted Hardeman’s trial may prove to be more significant than Johnson’s. U.S. Judge Vince Chhabria is overseeing hundreds of lawsuits related to cancer-causing dangers of Roundup. He said Hardeman’s case and two others are “bellwether trials.” This means they will likely set a pattern for thousands of other cases brought against Monsanto.

Nathan Donley, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, told USA Today the jurors “correctly held Monsanto responsible” for Hardeman’s cancer. He said Environmental Protection Agency regulators ignored independent scientific findings and “failed to protect Americans from this dangerous toxin.”

The Cancer-Causing Dangers of Roundup Cause Wider Concerns

Increased awareness of the potential dangers of Roundup and the active ingredient glyphosate sparked other recent health fears. The Environmental Working Group reported the presence of the cancer-linked herbicide glyphosate in certain popular breakfast cereals last year. It has also been detected in studies of wines and beers.

Our Virginia Roundup injury lawyers are concerned about the widespread use of Roundup and the high number of people reporting cancer from the use of this herbicide.

Newsweek noted that the world is “awash in glyphosate.” It has become the most heavily-used agricultural chemical in the history of the planet. That’s a big problem when it comes to analyzing its impact on health.

A study in the journal Environmental Sciences Europe found Americans applied 1.8 million tons of glyphosate on their yards, fields, and elsewhere since its introduction in 1974.

Globally, 9.4 million tons of the chemical have been sprayed onto fields. Newsweek estimated that was enough Roundup to spray nearly half a pound of the weed killer on every single cultivated acre of land in the world.

Talk to a Virginia Injury Lawyer about the Cancer-Causing Dangers of Roundup.

Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is a terrible form of cancer. If you received this diagnosis and believe it was linked to Roundup, please call our Virginia injury lawyers as soon as possible for a free meeting at (757) 231-6443.