For the second time in the last year, a jury has found that Monsanto’s Roundup has caused someone’s cancer. Earlier this month a six-person panel “sided with 70-year-old Edwin Hardeman, whose lawyers argued that the glyphosate-based herbicide was a ‘substantial factor’ in causing”1 his non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Yesterday they awarded him $80 million in damages.
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Diagnosed in 2015, the Sonoma County man had used Roundup on his 56-acre property, for more than two decades, according to his lawsuit.
Monsanto is appealing the decision (and the Johnson decision from August). However, the evil giant and its parent company Bayer still face thousands of trials all over the U.S. and hundreds of other lawsuits in the San Francisco federal court.
The law firm representing Hardeman said in a statement,
“It is clear from Monsanto’s actions that it does not care whether Roundup causes cancer, focusing instead on manipulating public opinion and undermining anyone who raises genuine and legitimate concerns about Roundup. Today, the jury resoundingly held Monsanto accountable for its 40 years of corporate malfeasance and sent a message to Monsanto that it needs to change the way it does business.”1
Monsanto, of course, continues to claim that studies have shown “that the active ingredient in its widely used weed killer, glyphosate, is safe.”1 (Sure, industry studies. But you get what you pay for, right Monsanto?)
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Speaking about the verdict, Bayer said,
“We are disappointed with the jury’s decision, but this verdict does not change the weight of over four decades of extensive science and the conclusions of regulators worldwide that support the safety of our glyphosate-based herbicides and that they are not carcinogenic.”2
In 2015, France based IARC classified glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen.” Although Monsanto attacked their opinion as an “outlier” people began speaking up and out and demanding Monsanto be brought to justice.
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