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A San Francisco area groundskeeper was awarded $289 million in a Roundup jury award because the court determined his terminal cancer was due to Monsanto’s popular weedkiller.
According to CNN, a San Francisco jury awarded $300 million in a Roundup jury award to plaintiff DeWayne J. who claimed that he developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma from years of using Monsanto’s popular weedkiller, Roundup.
DeWayne is a former school groundskeeper in San Francisco who alleges that his cancer was a direct result of being exposed to Roundup. This Roundup jury award was awarded to DeWayne, CNN says, primarily to punish Monsanto for its part in DeWayne’s illness.
According to the news channel, “[DeWayne’s] case was the first to go to trial because doctors said he was near death. And in California, dying plaintiffs can be granted expedited trials.”
Over the last couple years, hundreds of plaintiffs have filed suit against the agricultural giant claiming their illnesses, primarily cancers, were as a result of exposure to the pesticide.
This large Roundup jury award was awarded after three weeks of jury deliberation in the Superior Court of California in San Francisco. The jury awarded DeWayne $250 million in punitive damages and $39 million in compensatory damages.
Since DeWayne is near death, the bulk of the Roundup jury award will eventually go to his sons. DeWayne’s attorney told CNN, “It won’t change the fact that Johnson’s two sons might lose their dad soon. But it will help them live more comfortably. He’s going to live the rest of that time in extreme comfort.”
DeWayne, only 46 years old, says he applied Roundup weedkiller 20 to 30 times each year will employed as a school groundskeeper.
At least twice, DeWayne says he suffered an accident during which he was covered by the chemical. This initial accident occurred in 2012. In 2014, just two years later, DeWayne was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He currently has lesions over 80 percent of his body and is too sick to speak on most days.
Monsanto disagrees with the Roundup jury award and believes that Roundup is not harmful to humans.
Monsanto Vice President Scott Partridge told CNN, “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.”
However, the Roundup jury award seems to support the belief that Roundup actually does contribute to cancer. Plaintiffs believe that the company knew about the cancer risks, yet did nothing to warn people about those risks.
Many studies and organizations have found links between Roundup herbicide and cancer. The World Health Organization, in 2015, published the idea the glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, was probably carcinogenic. The report says “For the herbicide glyphosate, there was limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.”
The WHO is not the only organization to label glyphosate as carcinogenic. Both the EPA and the IARC also suspect the link between cancer and glyphosate.
If you have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and have been exposed to Roundup, you may be eligible for legal compensation.
If you or a loved one developed cancer after using Roundup as a farm worker or home gardener, you may have a legal claim. Legal migrant farm workers may also seek help. Learn more by filling out the form on this page for a FREE case evaluation.
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