Monsanto Loses Critical Case Roundup Weedkiller Case; Jury Awards $290M to Cancer Victim
San Francisco jurors just ruled that that Roundup, the most popular weedkillers worldwide, gave a former school groundskeeper terminal cancer.
The court awarded him $289 million in damages. With one main objective – to punish the agricultural company Monsanto.
Dewayne Johnson’s victory Friday could set a massive precedent for thousands of other cases claiming Monsanto’s famous herbicide causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Johnson’s case was the first to go to trial because doctors said he was near death. And in California, dying plaintiffs can be granted expedited trials.
“We will appeal this decision and continue to vigorously defend this product, which has a 40-year history of safe use and continues to be a vital, effective and safe tool for farmers and others,” Monsanto Vice President Scott Partridge said.
But Litzenburg said an appeal would be costly for Monsanto since the company would have to pay interest on the damages while the case is being appealed. That’s about $25 million a year, he said.
Lesions on his body
Litzenburg said the most heartbreaking part of Johnson’s testimony was when the father of two described telling his sons that he had terminal cancer. Johnson’s wife now works two 40-hour-per-week jobs to support the family, Litzenburg said.
This verdict proves that when ordinary citizens, in this case, a jury of 12, hear the facts about Monsanto’s products, and the lengths to which this company has gone to buy off scientists, deceive the public and influence government regulatory agencies, there is no confusion,” said Ronnie Cummins, OCA’s international director. “This is a company that has always put profits ahead of public safety, and today, Monsanto has finally been held accountable.
“We hope that this is just the first of many defeats for Monsanto, and that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will pull this product off the market immediately. In the meantime, OCA looks forward to the next steps in our own
lawsuit against Monsanto, for misleading consumers about the safety of Roundup for humans and pets. And we are grateful to Mr. Johnson for bravely facing down the ‘most evil corporation’ in the world.”
This article was republished from CNN and the Organic Consumers Association. We are republishing this article to make consumers aware of the danger Roundup poses to peoples health.
Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit consumer advocacy organization representing a network of more than 1 million consumers in the U.S. Visit www.organicconsumers.org.
