Thousands of lawsuits against Monsanto are pending in state and federal courts alleging the company failed to warn consumers that glyphosate causes cancer. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, the most widely used herbicide in the world.
 |
Monsanto continues to cite statements from the EPA that glyphosate poses “no risk to public health,” a position that contradicts a 2015 report from the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, which found glyphosate was probably carcinogenic to humans. Documents released in legal proceedings have raised questions regarding the legitimacy of the EPA’s review of glyphosate and whether Monsanto had ghostwritten research involving the chemical.
The article below chronicles the pending litigation against Monsanto, including the most recent verdict against the company in a case brought by a couple who contracted non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The California jury handed the company its third major loss, ordering Monsanto to pay the couple more than $2 billion.
Glyphosate is not allowed in organic production.
California jury hits Bayer with $2 billion award in Roundup cancer trial
Reuters
by Tina Bellon
A California jury on Monday awarded more than $2 billion to a couple who claimed Bayer AG’s glyphosate-based Roundup weed killer caused their cancer, in the largest U.S. jury verdict to date against the company in litigation over the chemical.
The large punitive damages award is likely to be reduced due to U.S. Supreme Court rulings that limit the ratio of punitive to compensatory damages to 9:1. The jury awarded a total of $2 billion in punitive damages and $55 million in compensatory damages.
It was the third consecutive U.S. jury verdict against the company in litigation over the chemical, which Bayer acquired as part of its $63 billion purchase of Monsanto last year. Both other jury verdicts also came in California, one in state court and one in federal court.
