Merril Hoge, A Former NFL Player Files Roundup Lawsuit

Merril Hoge, A Former NFL Player Files Roundup Lawsuit

Introduction

A lawsuit was filed last month by a Former NFL running back and ESPN analyst against Roundup, alleging that the popular weedkiller caused his cancer which resulted in permanent "physical pain and mental anguish."

According to the lawsuit, in 1977, the plaintiff, now 54, began working on a farm as a boy in Idaho where he was exposed to Roundup and was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2003. He accused Monsanto of negligence and said the company promoted “false, misleading, and untrue” statements about the safety of Roundup. The lawsuit now joins 18,400 other plaintiffs who have alleged Roundup causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma or NHL. The case has now been transferred to multidistrict litigation in Northern California.

In a written statement, Bayer said: “We have great sympathy for any individual with cancer, but the extensive body of science on glyphosate-based herbicides over four decades supports the conclusion that Roundup does not cause NHL.”

Bayer is facing more than 15,000 Roundup lawsuits consolidated under federal multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2741; In Re: Roundup Products Liability Litigation) in the Northern District of California, presided by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria.