A Pennsylvania man successfully argued that Bayer’s Roundup weedkiller caused him blood cancer, winning a record $2.25 billion.
John McKivison, 49, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which he and his lawyers say was the result of using Roundup for 20 years.
McKivison successfully argued that Monsanto and parent company Bayer were “negligent” and “failed to warn of the dangers” of their product.
McKivison’s attorneys, Tom Kline and Jason Itkin, said: “The jury’s unanimous verdict was a condemnation of fifty years of misconduct by Monsanto and a declaration that the misconduct was a reckless disregard for human safety and was a substantial cause of the John McKivison’s cancer.’
The company said its product is not carcinogenic, refuting a World Health Organization report that said otherwise, even though Bayer has previously settled disputes over the product’s links to the cancer, totaling more than $10 billion.
Roundup’s main ingredient is a chemical compound called glyphosate, which has been labeled a carcinogen by the World Health Organization and the state of California. Bayer and Monsanto deny this
Bayer vowed to overturn the verdict, calling the massive amount “unconstitutionally excessive,” adding that the ruling “contraries the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence and global regulatory and scientific assessments.”
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is not a single disease, but rather an umbrella term for more than 30 types, classified by the type of lymphocyte, a white blood cell, involved.
This type of cancer can result from exposure to cancer-causing chemicals such as glyphosate, the main ingredient in the weed killer.
NHL generally has a good prognosis. If the disease is caught before it spreads to other parts of the body, the survival rate is about 83 percent. Even the most advanced stage of the disease has a survival rate of at least 60 percent.
Although Mr. McKivison’s current health status is unknown, he was reportedly diagnosed with cancer in 2020.
Despite the latest ruling in Pennsylvania, on top of countless other rulings that have gone in consumers’ favor, Bayer continues to sell Roundup, which can be purchased in an endless number of retail spaces, from Amazon to home appliance stores.
The company insisted its product does not contain carcinogens, even after the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer said glyphosate was ‘probably’ carcinogenic to humans‘ in 2015.
Two years later, California named glyphosate a cancer-causing ingredient under the state’s Proposition 65, which requires Roundup to carry a warning label if sold in California.
But in April 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reaffirmed that glyphosate does not cause cancer.
The personal care giant was still ordered to pay $2 billion in compensatory damages and $250 million in compensatory damages to cover damages to Mr. McKivison.
Company said: ‘While we have great sympathy for the plaintiff in this case, we are confident that our products are safe to use and are not carcinogenic, consistent with the assessments of expert regulators worldwide.’
Glyphosate is marketed as salt or as an amber liquid with no odor.
The original maker, Monsanto, introduced it in 1974 as an effective way to kill weeds while leaving crops and plants intact.
Bayer acquired Monsanto in 2018 in a $63 billion deal.
This is far from the first legal reckoning Bayer has faced over allegations that its product caused cancer in its users.
In 2019, the San Francisco Court of Appeals on Monday upheld a 2019 decision awarding a massive $86 million to Alva and Alberta Pilliod of Livermore, who sued Bayer, claiming they had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma as a direct result of 30 years of glyphosate use. -based lawn treatment.
Bayer has denied claims that Roundup or its active ingredient glyphosate causes cancer. Pictured: Alva and Albert Pilliod, who won a lawsuit claiming Roundup caused their cancer
Dewayne ‘Lee’ Johnson (pictured) was awarded $289 million in damages in his lawsuit against agrochemical giant Monsanto
The couple’s cancers are in remission, but both have undergone “long and painful treatments and continue to suffer from them,” the court said.
And in 2018, terminally ill Dewayne Johnson, then 46 years old, won $289 million in a landmark verdict against Monsanto after a jury found that the weedkiller Roundup played a major role in causing his NHL.
Johnson worked as a gardener from 2012 to mid-2015, mixing and spraying hundreds of gallons of Roundup to control grass and weeds.
One of Johnson’s attorneys, Timothy Litzenburg, told DailyMail.com at the time that Johnson would spray the product between 30 and 40 times a year.
Despite wearing protective gear, Johnson said he was often drenched in the product. In one exposure accident, he testified that he was unable to shower for six hours.
The jury awarded Johnson $250 million in punitive damages and nearly $40 million in compensatory damages, bringing the total to $289 million. His case was the first to go to trial over a cancer link from Roundup.
Non-Hodkin lymphoma starts in the white blood cells called lymphocytes, an important facet of the body’s immune system. There are two main types of lymphocytes: B cells, which protect against bacteria and viruses by producing antibodies, and T cells, which destroy germs and abnormal cells.
B-cell lymphomas are more common than T-cell lymphomas.
The precise mechanisms leading to the development of various non-Hodgkin lymphomas remain unclear, although it appears that lymphocytes acquire the ability to proliferate rapidly and extensively, causing uncontrolled cell division that can result in the formation of cancerous lymph nodes or tumors .