A jury in Georgia has ordered Monsanto guardian Bayer to pay practically $2.1 billion in damages to a person who says the corporate’s Roundup weed killer precipitated his most cancers, in keeping with attorneys representing the plaintiff.
The decision marks the most recent in a long-running collection of court docket battles Monsanto has confronted over its Roundup herbicide. The agrochemical large says it would attraction the decision, reached in a Georgia courtroom late Friday, in efforts to overturn the choice.
The penalties awarded embody $65 million in compensatory damages and $2 billion in punitive damages, regulation companies Arnold & Itkin LLP and Kline & Specter PC stated in an announcement. That marks one of the largest verdicts in a Roundup-related case thus far.
Plaintiff John Barnes filed his lawsuit in opposition to Monsanto in 2021, in search of damages associated to his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Arnold & Itkin lawyer Kyle Findley, the lead trial lawyer on the case, stated the decision will assist put his consumer in a greater place to get the therapy he wants going ahead.
“It’s been an extended street for him … and he was completely happy that the reality associated to the product (has) been uncovered,” Findley instructed The Related Press on Sunday. He referred to as the decision an “necessary milestone” after “one other instance of Monsanto’s refusal to simply accept duty for poisoning folks with this poisonous product.”
Germany-based Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, has continued to dispute claims that Roundup causes most cancers. However the firm has been hit with more than 177,000 lawsuits involving the weedkiller and put aside $16 billion to settle circumstances.
In an announcement, Monsanto stated Friday’s verdict “conflicts with the overwhelming weight of scientific proof and the consensus of regulatory our bodies and their scientific assessments worldwide.” The corporate added that it continues “to face absolutely behind the protection” of Roundup merchandise.
For quite a lot of crops — together with corn, soybeans and cotton — Roundup is designed to work with genetically modified seeds that resist the weedkiller’s lethal impact. It permits farmers to supply extra whereas conserving the soil by tilling it much less.
Some research affiliate Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate, with most cancers, though the U.S. Environmental Safety Company has said it’s not more likely to be carcinogenic to people when used as directed. Nonetheless, quite a few lawsuits over the weedkiller allege glyphosate does trigger non-Hodgkin lymphoma, arguing that Monsanto has didn’t warn the general public about critical dangers for years.
Findley stated that proof regarding Barnes’ case present “a few years of cover-ups” and “backroom dealings.” He accused Monsanto of ignoring a number of scientific research associated to the toxicity of Roundup and stated the corporate “tried to seek out methods to influence and distract and deny the connection between this product and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.”
Friday’s choice marks the fourth Roundup-related verdict that Findley’s crew has received thus far — the most important of which was awarded in Philadelphia in January 2024, with damages totaling $2.25 billion. And he stated his regulation agency has “many extra purchasers who’re equally located as Mr. Barnes.”
Monsanto, in the meantime, additionally maintains that it “stays dedicated to attempting circumstances” — and argues its wider document of Roundup-related litigation continues to bolster the protection of its merchandise. The corporate stated it has prevailed in 17 of the final 25 associated trials and “jury verdicts have been diminished 90% general” in previous circumstances which have been finalized.
Bayer has not too long ago renewed and expanded an effort throughout a handful of U.S. states to guard pesticide firms from claims they didn’t warn {that a} product causes most cancers, if labeling in any other case complies with EPA rules. The corporate and different trade helps argue that litigation prices are unstainable and will impression Roundup’s future availability. However opponents stress that such laws would restrict accountability.
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