Monsanto Loses Appeal On Cancer Verdict; Now They Owe $78 Million
Round up herbicide was directly responsible for giving a man cancer
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Following Bayer's in a bid to 'rebrand' following its toxic reputation, Monsanto has lost its appeal in a historic lawsuit that found its product 'round up' herbicide was directly responsible for giving a man cancer.
A groundskeeper who developed terminal cancer after using Monsanto’s weed-killing products for years has awarded o $39 million in compensation and $250 million in punitive damages in August.
The jury at the Superior Court of California in San Francisco agreed that the agricultural biotechnology corporation had failed to warn DeWayne Johnson of the cancer risks of its product.
Monsanto requested the judge overturn $289m cancer verdict because of 'lack of evidence,' but lost the appeal.
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According to RT: In addition to sprinkling Roundup and its analog Ranger Pro 30 times a year, Johnson was soaked with the weed killer twice in on-the-job accidents and grew lymphoma within two years of the first accident.
As much as 80 percent of his body is enveloped in lesions, and his doctors did not think he'd live to see the jury verdict.
Johnson is happy with the verdict and hopes it leads Bayer and consumers alike to act more responsibly.
"I'm hoping that it snowballs and people get the picture, and they start to make decisions about what they eat, what they spray in their farms," he told the Guardian. He hopes to see warning labels on Monsanto products but isn't holding his breath.
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The confirmation of August's verdict opens Bayer up to thousands of related suits from plaintiffs with similar claims.
The World Health Organization deemed glyphosate "probably carcinogenic to humans" in 2015, yet Johnson and others like him were told in training sessions that the weed killer was "safe enough to drink."
Evidence appeared during Johnson's case that Monsanto was not only stifling research that confirmed the link between its products and cancer but may be paying for its own "ghostwritten" investigation that would characterize Roundup favorably.
Monsanto was sold to Bayer in June for $63 billion, and the massive new firm immediately chose to withdraw the Monsanto name.
With a sordid history that includes Agent Orange and genetically-modified seeds in addition to glyphosate, the brand name had become too toxic.
