Roundup maker loses second Calif. lawsuit claiming cancer

Associated Press photo by Haven Daley

Monsanto, now a subsidiary of German firm Bayer, lost a second lawsuit yesterday over the carcinogenic properties of glyphosate, which it markets as Roundup, the nation's most popular herbicide.

"Jurors in federal glyphosate multidistrict litigation in San Francisco found that use of glyphosate caused non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the plaintiff, Edwin Hardeman. The jury will now decide liability and damages in a second trial phase," reports Gil Gullickson of Successful Farming.

Last August in San Francisco Superior Court, jurors found in favor of a 42-year-old school groundskeeper suffering from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and awarded him $289 million. "That award was later reduced to $78 million and is on appeal," Gullickson notes.

Bayer issued a statement saying in part, "We continue to believe firmly that the science confirms that glyphosate-based herbicides do not cause cancer. . . . We have great sympathy for Mr. Hardeman and his family, but an extensive body of science supports the conclusion that Roundup was not the cause of his cancer. Bayer stands behind these products and will vigorously defend them."

Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group, which has criticized Roundup and its maker, said
"scientists with the State of California and the World Health Organization have concluded glyphosate causes cancer in people." Jurors heard conflicting evidence about that, report Sara Randazzo and Ruth Bender of The Wall Street Journal.