Pensioner wins £61m over weedkiller’s link to cancer

A PENSIONER who sprayed Roundup on his plants for three decades has been awarded a record £61million after the weedkiller was linked to his cancer.

The ruling – the second of its kind – leaves German chemical giant Bayer sweating on more than 11,000 other court cases that have been filed against it in the US.

Edwin Hardeman, 70, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of cancer which affects the immune system, in February 2015. He said he sprayed Roundup on the 56-acre grounds of his home north of San Francisco for 30 years as he tried to fight poison oak and other weeds.

Roundup was the first weedkiller to use a chemical called glyphosate, which was judged to ‘probably’ cause cancer by the World Health Organisation in 2015.

The jury considering Mr Hardeman’s case at San Francisco’s federal court determined that the weedkiller was defectively designed, that maker Monsanto had failed to warn users of its alleged cancer risk, and that the company acted negligently.

The same jury had previously found that Roundup was a ‘substantial factor’ in causing the complainant’s cancer. Mr Hardeman, whose cancer is now in remission, said he was ‘ overwhelmed’ by the verdict.

It comes less than a year after a jury in California awarded £220million to Dewayne Johnson after it ruled that Roundup played a role in his non-Hodgkin lymphoma. A judge later lowered the payout to £59million.

Bayer, which bought Monsanto for £48billion last year, will appeal yesterday’s decision. It said it had ‘great sympathy’ for Mr Hardeman and his family but added that it ‘stands behind these products and will vigorously defend them’.

It added: ‘We are disappointed with the jury’s decision, but this verdict will 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.’

The European Chemicals Agency and US Environmental Protection Agency have both disputed glyphosate’s links to cancer.