Last year a jury held Monsanto accountable for causing cancerous lesions throughout the body of Dewayne Johnson, a groundskeeper in California. The jury concluded that Roundup was the cause of Mr. Johnson’s non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer that affects the immune system and causes skin lesions. Some evidence presented during the trial suggested that Monsanto had strategized plans to “ghostwrite” favorable research on glyphosate. The jury awarded Mr. Johnson $39,200,000 for compensatory damages and hit Monsanto with a $250,000,000 verdict in punitive damages.
According to some estimates, there are more than 18,000
people now suing Monsanto claiming that their exposure to glyphosate caused
them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The
claimants argue that Monsanto was aware of the risks but hid that information so
that it could continue to make a fortune from the sale of Roundup.
Claimants allege that Monsanto was involved in putting forth research to combat the conclusion by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) that glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen. Apparently, documents now have surfaced showing that Monsanto had extensive involvement in the drafting and editing of the papers attacking IARC’s conclusion that glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen.
Monsanto’s efforts to hid the risks of glyphosate and its efforts to try to influence the public’s perception of the safety of glyphosate appears to be what is angering the members of the jury and leading to the large punitive damage awards.
If you or a loved one have been exposed to prolonged uses of Roudup and have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, you should get legal help in holding Monsanto accountable for the harms Monsanto has caused you or your loved one. We cannot make corporate America safer unless corporate America is held accountable for putting their profits over the safety of the public. If you have been injured and have any questions about your rights, give the Truman & Radford Law Firm a call today for help.
