Cancer patient gets massive damages award against Monsanto
BERLIN: German chemical giant Bayer expressed irritation after a US court ordered Monsanto, which Bayer recently acquired, to pay $289million (about R4billion) to a gardener who claimed their weed killers gave him terminal cancer.
“The ruling contradicts scientific findings that have shown there is no relationship between use of glyphosate and non-hodgkin lymphoma,” a Bayer spokesperson said on Saturday.
A jury in California awarded the payment on Friday to a former gardener who said he got terminal cancer from Roundup, a widely used weed killer made by US agro-chemical giant, Monsanto.
The jury found Dewayne Johnson should get $250m in punitive damages and more than $39m in compensatory damages. He was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer aged 42 in 2014.
He is one of hundreds of cancer patients suing Monsanto and Friday’s development potentially sets a precedent. Johnson’s case was heard ahead of the others because he is dying.
As a gardener in the San Francisco Bay area district, he sprayed Roundup and another Monsanto product, Ranger Pro, in the course of his job, his attorneys said.
Johnson blamed Roundup for his suffering and accused the company of concealing its dangers. Monsanto rejected the allegations, saying the herbicide glyphosate is safe.
Scott Partridge, Monsanto vice-president, said the decision did not change the fact that more than 800 scientific studies and reviews, including by the US Environmental Protection Agency and other regulatory agencies, “support the finding that glyphosate is non-carcinogenic and has not caused Mr Johnson’s cancer”.
Partridge said Monsanto would appeal.
The lawsuit moved forward last month when Judge Vince Chhabria ruled against Monsanto’s request for a dismissal. The company argued the more than 400 plaintiffs couldn’t prove glyphosate, the controversial ingredient in Roundup, causes non-hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer affecting white blood cells. Chhabria also allowed the opinions of three expert witnesses to be admitted.
In addition to the individual lawsuits, there is a class action suit in Chhabria’s court filed by farmers, gardeners and consumers.
– DPA/ANA