Emily Sortor  |  January 16, 2020

Category: Legal News

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Worker in field using Roundup in CanadaRoundup is a type of chemical herbicide used to prevent the spreading of weeds, invasive plant species, and other unwanted vegetation. Roundup may be used by commercial farmers, gardeners, groundskeepers, and landscapers.

What Is Roundup?

The active ingredient in Roundup, glyphosate, is a chemical that may be used to control and kill grasses, annual and perennial plants, vines, shrubs, and trees. Glyphosate and Roundup are wildly popular forms of pesticides. Glyphosate is the most widely sold pesticide in Canada, and approximately 280 million pounds of glyphosate are applied to crops across the globe each year.

Roundup is produced by Monsanto, which was bought by Bayer in 2018. Monsanto has also genetically engineered several crops, including soybeans, corn, cotton, and canola, to be resistant to the chemical and withstand Roundup being directly sprayed onto the crops.

Although Roundup is a very effective herbicide, it is also suspected to be a carcinogen, meaning that it may cause cancer in humans. Due to the popularity of the chemical, thousands of people may have been exposed to Roundup used in Canada without their knowledge.

Some countries, states, and cities have banned the chemical due to its link with cancer, but it is still widely used. Estimates on the number of agricultural workers exposed to Roundup and glyphosate vary from 37,000 to 55,000. Exposure to glyphosate may result in several dangerous health side effects, including cancer.

Is Roundup Used in Canada?

Eight of Canada’s ten provinces have instituted restrictions or bans on the use of non-essential pesticides including glyphosate. Roundup has been banned in numerous other countries, states, and cities, due to concerns that exposure to the pesticide may lead to serious health concerns including cancer.

Though glyphosate has been restricted or banned in eight of Canada’s ten provinces, critics say that this is not enough. Health Canada granted widespread glyphosate approval in 2017, but critics including Canadian law charity EcoJustice claim that Health Canada based this decision on faulty information about the pesticide.

According to EcoJustice, Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency based its approval of glyphosate on incorrect information. Allegedly, the agency based its approval on studies provided or altered by Monsanto and Bayer, makers of glyphosate. EcoJustice argues that the information was not free from bias, and presented glyphosate as safe in Monsanto and Bayer’s best interests. 

Critics say that Health Canada disregarded the World Health Organization’s 2015 decision that determined that glyphosate was a probable human carcinogen. The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer came to this conclusion, despite glyphosate’s popularity as a weed killer around the world.

According to EcoJustice and critics in Canada and the United States, Monsanto’s internal documents indicate that the company knows that glyphosate may be dangerous, and points to intentional efforts to cover up this fact.

Now, the organization is urging Health Canada to reconsider its approval of glyphosate-containing pesticides like Roundup. EcoJustice urges Health Canada to create an independent review panel that would judge the safety of glyphosate using allegedly unbiased information. Critics urge Health Canada to consider the full effects of pesticides on both people and pollinators, which are affected by the pesticides used on plants. 

The chemical pesticide has been banned in more than 30 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Columbia, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Kuwait, Malawi, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Oman, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, and the UK.

Glyphosate has not yet been banned across the United States, although individual cities including Seattle, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Minneapolis have issued bans or restrictions on the use of the chemical on public parks and grounds.

What Are the Symptoms of Roundup-Related Cancer?

According to a 2015 report released by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), glyphosate is a “probable human carcinogen,” and is likely to have the ability to cause cancer in humans.

The IARC report indicates that glyphosate-related cancers are likely to be non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other cancers that begin in immune system cells. Additionally, the report found that exposure to glyphosate may also result in DNA and chromosomal damage.

Additional health concerns that have been linked to glyphosate exposure include ADHD, Alzheimer’s, autism, birth defects, celiac disease, colitis, heart disease, inflammatory bowel syndrome, kidney disease, liver disease, and Parkinson’s.

Victims who have suffered from cancer or other health problems due to exposure to Roundup used in Canada may be eligible to hire a lawyer and file a class action lawsuit against Monsanto and Bayer regarding the possibly carcinogenic herbicide. Victims may be able to recover compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering, and other damages.

Do YOU have a legal claim? Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The Canadian lawyers who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual Roundup glyphosate cancer lawsuit or Roundup class action lawsuit is best for you. [In general, Roundup lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.] Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.

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