Seventy-six plaintiffs have joined to file a Roundup mass tort lawsuit against agricultural giant, Monsanto, claiming that they each developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma as a result of the use of Roundup weed killer.

The stories of the seventy-six plaintiffs are all quite similar. Each says they purchased Roundup for use on their lawn, property or crops, most used the weed killer for an extended period of time, and all have developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Several plaintiffs in this Roundup mass tort lawsuit have reported using Roundup for as long as 35 to 40 continuous years.

Monsanto is based in St. Louis and is the world’s leading producer of a chemical called glyphosate. Consumers know their brand, Roundup, as a common weed killer that many people use on their lawns.

This Roundup mass tort lawsuit notes that Monsanto developed glyphosate and found that it worked as a successful herbicide. Around 1974, Monsanto began marketing Roundup as a non-selective herbicide that kills weeds that compete with crops.

According to this Roundup mass tort lawsuit, by 2001 glyphosate had become the most-used active ingredient in agriculture in the United States. In 2001, eighty-five to ninety million pounds of glyphosate was used in the U.S. each year, and by 2007, that number had grown to 185 million pounds.

Now, each year over 250 million pounds of glyphosate is sprayed on crops in the U.S.

Glyphosate is a weed killer that can be sprayed on everything. But it only kills certain plants that contain a specific enzyme.

Monsanto also is a world leader in producing seeds and in 2009, was responsible for nearly 30% of the world seed market. Monsanto develops and sells seeds that are “Roundup Ready,” which essentially means they will resist Roundup spraying. Seventy percent of corn and cotton and 90% of soybean crops in the U.S. in 2010 were Roundup Ready and therefore, genetically modified.

This is advantageous to farmers who do not want to lose their crops to weeds. However, Roundup Ready seeds are genetically modified crops, or GMOs, and many critics see GMOs as very harmful to the health of consumers.

Glyphosate has been connected to fatal disease aside from the non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the plaintiffs in this Roundup mass tort lawsuit have noted. Leukemia, multiple myeloma, B-cell lymphoma, bone cancer, kidney cancer, skin tumors, pancreatic islet cell tumors, chromosomal damage and DNA damage have all been linked to glyphosate.

However, Monsanto, this Roundup mass tort lawsuit states, has been advertising the safety of glyphosate for many years and has even been accused of scientific fraud.

Allegedly, in 1985 Monsanto pressured the EPA not to classify glyphosate as a “possible carcinogen” by providing for them evidence to the contrary, according to this Roundup mass tort lawsuit. However, it has been reported since then that several of the laboratories that Monsanto hired to perform studies falsified data and committed fraud including Craven Laboratories and Industrial Bio-Test Industries.

The multiple plaintiffs in this Roundup mass tort lawsuit hold Monsanto responsible on counts of design defect, failure to warn and negligence.

This Roundup Mass Tort Lawsuit is Case No. 4:17-cv-01781 in the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, State of Missouri.

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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