News Jury awards $289M to man who blames Roundup for cancer

[brassmonkey]

"I'm glad to be here to be able to help in a cause that's way bigger than me," Dewayne Johnson said at a news conference Friday after the verdict was announced. Johnson, 46, alleges that heavy contact with the herbicide caused his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The state Superior Court jury agreed that Roundup contributed to Johnson's cancer and Monsanto should have provided a label warning of the potential health hazard.

Johnson thanked jurors "from the bottom of my heart" for their work, along with his lawyers and his family. His was the first case filed by a cancer patient against the agribusiness giant to reach trial. It was expedited because court filings indicated that Johnson was dying. His victory may set the precedent for many others.

"A unanimous jury in San Francisco has told Monsanto: 'Enough. You did something wrong and now you have to pay,'" said Brent Wisner, Johnson's lead trial lawyer. "There's 4,000 other cases filed around the United States and there are countless thousand other people out there who are suffering from cancer because Monsanto didn't give them a choice ... We now have a way forward."

Monsanto has denied a link between the active ingredient in Roundup — glyphosate — and cancer, saying hundreds of studies have established that glyphosate is safe. Monsanto spokesman Scott Partridge said the company will appeal. Partridge said scientific studies and two government agencies have concluded that Roundup does not cause cancer.

"We are sympathetic to Mr. Johnson and his family," Partridge said. "We will appeal this decision and continue to vigorously defend this product, which has a 40-year history of safe use and continues to be a vital, effective, and safe tool for farmers and others."

Johnson used Roundup and a similar product, Ranger Pro, as a pest control manager at a San Francisco Bay Area school district, his lawyers said. He sprayed large quantities from a 50-gallon tank attached to a truck, and during gusty winds, the product would cover his face, said Brent Wisner, one of his attorneys.

Once, when a hose broke, the weed killer soaked his entire body. Johnson read the label and even contacted the company after developing a rash but was never warned it could cause cancer, Wisner said. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2014.

"The simple fact is he is going to die. It's just a matter of time," Wisner told the jury in his opening statement last month. But George Lombardi, an attorney for Monsanto, said non-Hodgkin's lymphoma takes years to develop, so Johnson's cancer must have started well before he began working at the school district.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says Roundup's active ingredient is safe for people when used in accordance with label directions. However, the France-based International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, classified it as a "probable human carcinogen" in 2015. California added glyphosate to its list of chemicals known to cause cancer.

Johnson's attorneys sought and won $39 million in compensatory damages and $250 million of the $373 million they wanted in punitive damages.

article...

[blackmonsters]

No shit.

That stuff is just another kind of Agent Orange.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange

[Mr Pheer]

Just being in California causes cancer.

[brassmonkey]

just think of the kids that play in the grass

[NALEM]

Watch the movie "The Constant Gardener" and you will discover the lab animals the chemical companies tested their products on, where actually human beings, who did not volunteer for the clinical trials, but instead thought they were getting a routine vaccination by international volunteers and aid agencies.

Google "Medical experimentation in Africa" or "Kano Nigeria".

[Bladewire]

Originally Posted by brassmonkey

just think of the kids that play in the grass

↑↑↑ Truth

And the worms under the soil, and the birds and lizards that eat the worms. And the runoof of Roundup into the streams & lakes.

[GFED]

Fuck Monsanto. Fuck Bayer.

[Helix]

For the cannabis growers,
Bayer = Monsanto = Scott's Miracle Grow = General Hydroponics = Black Magic.

[crockett]

289M is nothing to that company, unless it opens up flood gates of other lawsuits

[hjnet]

Originally Posted by brassmonkey

just think of the kids that play in the grass

Or think about what you eat?

Although if Glyphosate is really causing cancer then we'd have a huge problem.
It's used in many products, even the 50ml bottle of herbicide I've bought at the home-improvement market for my driveway contains Glyphosate. We've all been exposed to it through our food...