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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/monsanto-ordered-pay-289-million-001124544.html?.tsrc=fauxdal
Monsanto ordered to pay $289m to terminally ill groundsman who used Roundup weedkiller
Plaintiff Dewayne Johnson reacts after hearing the verdict to his case against Monsanto - AFP
A
jury has ordered the chemical giant Monsanto to pay a terminally ill
school groundskeeper $289 million (£226 million) in damages in the first
trial over claims that its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer.
Lee
Johnson, whose doctors didn’t think he’d live long enough to learn the
verdict, prevailed Friday in San Francisco state court after jurors
deliberated for three days.
The
trial was an important test of the evidence against Monsanto and will
serve as a template for litigating thousands of other claims over the
herbicide.
The
company immediately said it would appeal against the decision and tried
to reassure consumers - including those using Roundup in Britain - that
its weedkiller was safe.
Mr
Johnson was seeking $412 million in damages. Jurors awarded him $39
million for his losses and $250 million to punish the company after
finding it liable for a design defect and failing to warn of Roundup’s
risks. Monsanto said it will appeal.
Bottles of Roundup herbicide, a product of Monsanto Credit: Jeff Roberson/AP
Monsanto
vice president Scott Partridge told the Press Association: "Roundup has
been safe for four decades and will continue to be safe. There is no
credible scientific evidence that demonstrates otherwise.
"It
is completely and totally safe and the public should not be concerned
about this verdict... We will work through the legal process to see if
we can get the right result. The science is crystal clear."
Germany’s Bayer AG closed a deal to buy Monsanto for $66 billion in June.
If
the litigation generates large verdicts against Monsanto, it could have
a material impact on Bayer’s bottom line, said Chris Perrella, an
analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence.
Since
Roundup is ubiquitous in modern farming, there’s a “huge potential
liability,” though it’s very uncertain it will materialise, he said.
Bayer investors might not be aware of the risks because many analysts covering the company focus on pharmaceuticals, Mr Perrella said.
Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, was first approved for use in Monsanto’s weedkiller in 1974.
While
becoming the world’s most popular and widely used herbicide, the
question of whether it causes cancer has been hotly debated by
environmentalists, regulators, researchers and lawyers - even
as Monsanto has insisted for decades that it’s perfectly safe.
Monsanto Vice President Scott Partridge speaks during a press conference after the ruling Credit: JOSH EDELSON/AFP
Working
for a school district in Benicia, California, about 40 miles east of
San Francisco, Mr Johnson mixed and sprayed hundreds of gallons of
Roundup.
He
was diagnosed with cancer in 2014, and in July 2017, after chemotherapy
and other treatments, his oncologist gave him six months to live.
Mr
Johnson’s lawyers, relying on his testimony and expert witnesses,
argued that his exposure, including accidents that got him soaked from
head to toe in Roundup, caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Monsanto scientists
knew of the cancer risk posed by Roundup as far back as the 1970s, but
failed to inform the public and instead engaged in a "deliberate effort
to distort the truth” as the weedkiller generated hefty returns, Mr
Johnson’s lawyer, Brent Wisner, told the jury in closing arguments on
Tuesday.
“Monsanto made
a choice to not put a cancer warning on the label,” Mr Wisner said.
“That is a choice that shows their reckless disregard for human health,
and today is their day of reckoning.”
DeWayne Johnson hugs one of his lawyers after hearing the verdict Credit: JOSH EDELSON/AFP
Monsanto argued
that the type of cancer contracted by Mr Johnson takes many years to
form. The short period between his first exposure in 2012 and his
diagnosis in 2014 made any connection between his contact and the
disease impossible, according to the company.
Monsanto lawyer
George Lombardi insisted that science had found no connection between
Roundup and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He noted that the US Environmental
Protection Agency continued to assert - after repeated assessments -
that Roundup was safe.
In fact, Mr Lombardi told the jury, no one had yet figured out what causes the disease.
“We
don’t know why people get mycosis fungoides,” he said, using the name
of the specific form of cancer Mr Johnson has. "It would be nice if we
could tell people why they get it, but we can’t.”
- FinanceTheStreet.com
