ROUNDUP LAWSUIT

Monsanto has been involved in numerous high profile lawsuits related to their popular weed killer RoundUp. It should be noted that Monsanto was purchased by Bayer in 2018.

Below, we will review a few of the cases that have taken place so far. Over 4,000 cancer patients to date have filed lawsuits against Monsanto, alleging that the company failed to warn the public of the risk of cancer associated with exposure to the chemical called glyphosate used in RoundUp.

• On August 10, 2018, Dewayne Johnson was awarded $289 million in damages after a San Francisco jury found that Monsanto failed to adequately warn consumers of RoundUp cancer risks. Johnson used RoundUp for decades as a groundskeeper and contracted non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The total amount awarded was cut to $78 million on appeal, but still a significant sum.
• In March of 2019, a California man was awarded $80 million in a lawsuit claiming RoundUp was a substantial factor in causing his cancer. This case resulted in Costco stores discontinuing sales of RoundUp. A US District judge reduced the settlement in this case to $25 million, though the judge did say that Monsanto showed “a lack of concern about the risk that its product might be carcinogenic.”
• In May of 2019, a California jury awarded $2 billion in damages to a couple after finding that the company failed to adequately inform consumers that RoundUp may be carcinogenic. The couple, in this case, had used RoundUp for more than three decades on their property. This award was later reduced to $86.7 million.

There are thousands of other plaintiffs waiting for their day in court, and new cases are being discovered all the time. Monsanto and Bayer continue to insist that their products pose no risk to consumers.