DOJ Asked For Its View On Californian Man's Roundup Lawsuit

DOJ Asked For Its View On Californian Man's Roundup Lawsuit

Introduction

The Supreme Court asked the Department of Justice to provide inputs about a lawsuit where a Californian man alleged Monsanto's Roundup herbicide caused cancer to him.

As per the lawsuit, Monsanto is seeking to appeal against a $25 million verdict awarded by the jury to the plaintiff over the allegations that the exposure to the company's Roundup herbicide caused in development of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma for him. The Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit noted in the ruling that the case could lead to thousands of federal cases as it is a bellwether.

The company appealed against the verdict after a federal appeals court in San Francisco declared a court verdict that claimed glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup is linked to causing cancer among the people exposed to it, and Monsanto failed to warn about the associated risks.

Monsanto has asked the justices to consider the inputs from the Environmental Protection Agency about its product’s safety before making a decision. The company even asked to exclude the testimony offered by an expert at the trial linking Roundup to cancer.

A spokesperson for Bayer notified that the U.S. expert agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, executed thorough studies that concluded glyphosate-based herbicides are safe for use and are not carcinogenic. The statement further added that the cancer warning is false and misleading, which would debrand the product.

The plaintiff has asked the court to reject Monsanto's appeal. The attorneys for the plaintiffs have not yet commented on the development of the trial.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer classified the Roundup weedkiller as a “probable human carcinogen” in 2015. On the other hand, Environmental Protection Agency informed that Roundup's active ingredient glyphosate might not sicken humans.

Bayer faces more than 120,00 Roundup lawsuits in the federal courts with allegations that the glyphosate-based weed killer causes cancer, and the company has withheld the risks associated with its glyphosate-based products for profits.

Even though Bayer has promised to discontinue the sale of its glyphosate-based products from retail stores by 2023 to prevent further litigations, the company is firm on its stand to back Roundup safety.