NEW YORK (AP) — A jury in Georgia has ordered Monsanto father or mother Bayer to pay almost $2.1 billion in damages to a person who says the corporate’s Roundup weed killer induced his most cancers, in response to attorneys representing the plaintiff.
The decision marks the most recent in a long-running series of court battles Monsanto has confronted over its Roundup herbicide. The agrochemical large says it should attraction the decision, reached in a Georgia courtroom late Friday, in efforts to overturn the choice.
The penalties awarded embody $65 million in compensatory damages and $2 billion in punitive damages, regulation corporations Arnold & Itkin LLP and Kline & Specter PC mentioned in an announcement. That marks one of the largest authorized settlements reached in a Roundup-related case thus far.
Plaintiff John Barnes filed his lawsuit in opposition to Monsanto in 2021, looking for damages associated to his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Arnold & Itkin legal professional Kyle Findley, the lead trial lawyer on the case, mentioned the decision will assist put his shopper in a greater place to get the remedy he wants going ahead.
“It’s been a protracted street for him … and he was completely satisfied that the reality associated to the product (has) been uncovered,” Findley advised The Related Press on Sunday. He known as the decision an “necessary milestone” after “one other instance of Monsanto’s refusal to simply accept accountability for poisoning folks with this poisonous product.”
Germany-based Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, has continued to dispute claims that Roundup causes most cancers. However the firm has been hit with more than 177,000 lawsuits involving the weedkiller and put aside $16 billion to settle circumstances.
In an announcement, Monsanto mentioned Friday’s verdict “conflicts with the overwhelming weight of scientific proof and the consensus of regulatory our bodies and their scientific assessments worldwide.” The corporate added that it continues “to face absolutely behind the security” of Roundup merchandise.
For a wide range of crops — together with corn, soybeans and cotton — Roundup is designed to work with genetically modified seeds that resist the weedkiller’s lethal impact. It permits farmers to supply extra whereas conserving the soil by tilling it much less.
Some research affiliate Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate, with most cancers, though the U.S. Environmental Safety Company has said it isn’t prone to be carcinogenic to people when used as directed. Nonetheless, quite a few lawsuits over the weedkiller allege glyphosate does trigger non-Hodgkin lymphoma, arguing that Monsanto has didn’t warn the general public about critical dangers for years.
Findley mentioned that proof referring to Barnes’ case present “a few years of cover-ups” and “backroom dealings.” He accused Monsanto of ignoring a number of scientific research associated to the toxicity of Roundup and mentioned the corporate “tried to search out methods to influence and distract and deny the connection between this product and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.”
Friday’s determination marks the fourth Roundup-related verdict that Findley’s workforce has received thus far — the biggest of which was awarded in Philadelphia in January 2024, with damages totaling $2.25 billion. And he mentioned his regulation agency has “many extra shoppers who’re equally located as Mr. Barnes.”
Monsanto, in the meantime, additionally maintains that it “stays dedicated to making an attempt circumstances” — and argues its wider document of Roundup-related litigation continues to strengthen the security of its merchandise. The corporate mentioned it has prevailed in 17 of the final 25 associated trials, whereas some earlier harm awards have been lowered.
Bayer has recently renewed and expanded an effort throughout a handful of U.S. states to guard pesticide corporations from claims they didn’t warn {that a} product causes most cancers, if labeling in any other case complies with EPA rules. The corporate and different trade helps argue that litigation prices are unstainable and will impression Roundup’s future availability. However opponents stress that such laws would restrict accountability.
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