Roundup Lawsuit Settlement Information
Roundup and Cancer – What You Need To Know
Roundup is one of the most widely used weed killers in the world today. It is made by the giant chemical company, Monsanto. Since Roundup hit the market in 1974, its use and sales have skyrocketed. Each year, about 250 million pounds of Roundup is sprayed on crops, in nurseries, and in people’s yards around the world. The main chemical in Roundup that kills weeds and grasses is called glyphosate.
On March 20, 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)released a statement saying that glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans.” This is because there have been scientific studies linking glyphosate to certain types of cancers, including Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. However, Monsanto has continued to claim that Roundup is safe and does not contain any cancer causing chemicals. In fact, to this day, Monsanto has refused to put a warning on Roundup alerting users of this potential cancer risk.
Those who are the most at risk for developing cancer are those people who have been exposed to Roundup on a regular basis for a long period of time. These include:
- Farm Workers
- Landscapers
- Nursery workers
- Grounds keepers
- Road crew workers
How to Bring A Roundup Cancer Claim
If you, or a loved one, used the weed killer Roundup on a regular basis and were later diagnosed with:
- Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL)
- Hodgkin’s lymphoma
- Multiple myeloma
- Soft tissue sarcoma
- Leukemia, or
- B-cell lymphoma
you may have a Roundup cancer claim. Two different California juries have already agreed that Roundup causes cancer and they have awarded millions of dollars to two men who developed cancer after the regular use of Roundup in their jobs.
Contact our experienced legal team now for a free, no obligation case consultation. You may be entitled to substantial compensation for your injuries caused by Roundup. Also, you owe no legal fees unless you win!
CALL MILTON NOW – 706-207-5103
The time to file a claim is limited, so you need to act now before your time to file a claim expires!
What is Glyphosate?
Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide used to kill weeds and grasses. When glyphosate is sprayed on plants, it is absorbed through the leaves, stems, and roots. Glyphosate inhibits a specific enzyme in certain plants called “5-enolpyruvyl-shikimic acid-3 phosphate synthase, also called “EPSP synthase.” In plants that contain this enzyme, the herbicide interferes with the plant’s metabolism, resulting in a buildup of shikimic acid, which kills the plant.
In addition to being used on lawns, athletic fields, golf courses and in many other private and commercial settings, Roundup is also frequently used by farmers on their crops. For this reason, Monsanto has created a large selection of genetically modified seeds designed to resist glyphosate. The genetically modified crops allow farmers to save a lot of time and money by spraying Roundup over the crops, and not just the weeds, without killing or harming the crops.
As of 2009, Monsanto was the world’s leading producer of seeds designed to be “RoundUp Ready,” meaning they are resistant to damage from glyphosate. In 2010, an estimated 70 percent of corn and cotton, and 90 percent of soybean fields in the U.S. contained glyphosate-resistant crops. You have probably read about the health concerns surrounding food produced from genetically modified crops and that is why so many foods today have “Non GMO” on the label, meaning the plants were natural and not genetically modified to resist damage from Roundup.
What Evidence Links Roundup and Cancer?
In 1985, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Toxicology Branch classified glyphosate as a “Category C” oncogene, which meant that it possibly caused cancer in humans. However, Monsanto disputed that glyphosate or Roundup caused cancer, and it continues to dispute it to this very day. In 1986, the EPA required additional toxicology tests on Roundup because of these concerns. Surprisingly, the EPA changed that classification from Category C to “evidence of non-carcinogenicity in humans (Group E).” This change occurred after the EPA re-evaluated animal studies that evaluated the effects of exposure to the pesticide. It noted, however, that the new designation was “based on available evidence” and that it “should not be interpreted as a definitive conclusion that the agent will not be a carcinogen under any circumstances.”
What do the more recent studies show? A number of them show a connection between glyphosate and cancer. Here are some of the relevant studies:
- 1999:Researchers studied the incidence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in Sweden and found that subjects exposed to herbicideslike glyphosate had an increased risk of NHL.
- 2003:Researchers studiedover 3,400 farmers exposed to various herbicides. They found that reported use of many of them—including glyphosate—was associated with an increased incidence of NHL.
- 2005:Researchers evaluate associations between glyphosate exposure and cancer in the Agricultural Health Study (AHS)which included over 57,000 pesticide applicators in Iowa and North Carolina. Researchers found no link for most types of cancers but did find a suggested association between the chemical and multiple myeloma.
- 2008:Researchers studiedparticipants exposed to glyphosate and found a significant association between the herbicide and NHL.
- 2014:A study reviewof nearly three decades of research on the relationship between NHL and occupational exposure to pesticide active ingredients showed that pesticides like glyphosate were associated with a higher incidence of NHL.
- 2015:The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)announced their new classification of glyphosate, stating there was “limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans” for NHL.
- 2016: The United Nations and the World Health Organization released a new reportin which they concluded that glyphosate is “unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans from exposure through the diet.” However, it did not address the cancer risk through other means of exposure, such as through the skin or lungs.
Currently, the EPA stateson its website that glyphosate has “low toxicity for humans,” but adds that the chemical and its related acid and salt compounds are “currently undergoing registration review, a program that re-evaluates all pesticides on a 15-year cycle.”
In March 2017, the EPA noted that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) met in December 2016“to consider a set of scientific issues being evaluated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding EPA’s evaluation of the carcinogenic potential of the herbicide glyphosate.” The agency stated it would review the findings of the panel before making a final determination regarding the potential carcinogenicity of glyphosate.
On July 7, 2017, the California state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) named glyphosate as a chemical that can cause cancer. It also added the ingredient to the list of cancer-causing chemicals, which will require Monsanto to add new warnings to their label for products sold in California. Monsanto sued the OEHHA in 2016 when they first tried to put the chemical on OEHHA’s Proposition 65 list, which identifies chemicals that are known to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm. The company lost that case, but they have appealed.
In addition to the concerns about glyphosate, there are also concerns about other ingredients in Roundup that may exacerbate the herbicide’s potentially harmful health effects. The product contains POEA (polyoxyethylene tallow amine), for example, a surfactant with known toxic effects on aquatic organisms. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is currently investigating this ingredient and its possible effects on the environment when used in herbicide applications. There is some evidence that POEA may make Roundup even more toxic.
Despite all of this this evidence, Monsanto maintains that glyphosate and Roundup are safe and non-carcinogenic and refuses to put any warnings on the Roundup label about cancer risks.
Cancers Suspected of Being Associated With Roundup
- Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL)
- Hodgkin’s lymphoma
- Multiple myeloma
- Soft tissue sarcoma
- Leukemia
- B-cell lymphoma
Roundup Cancer Lawsuits
Jury Hits Monsanto with Verdict of $289 Million in First Roundup Cancer Case
The first case to go to trial against Monsanto for cancer caused by Roundup involved Mr. Dewayne Johnson. Mr. Johnson’s case was the first to go to trial because his doctors said he was near death, and in California has a law that requires cases with very sick plaintiffs go to the front of the line. The trial took place in 2018. At trial, Mr. Johnson, age 46, testified that he sprayed Roundup 20 to 30 times per year while working as a groundskeeper for a school district near San Francisco, California. He testified that during his work, he had at least two accidents in which he was soaked with Roundup. The first accident happened in 2012. Two years later, in 2014, Mr. Johnson was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. After hearing all of the evidence, the Superior Court of California jury in San Francisco determined that Roundup causes cancer and that it caused Mr. Johnson’s NHL. The jury then awarded Mr. Johnson $39 million in compensatory damages to compensate him for the harms he suffered and it added another $250 million in punitive damages. The punitive damages were to punish Monsanto for its bad behavior in covering up the risks of cancer to Mr. Johnson.
Jury Hits Monsanto with Verdict of $80 Million in Second Roundup Cancer Case
The 2ndcase to go to trial was a federal court case in California. This case involved Mr. Edwin Hardeman, who used Roundup to control weeds and poison oak on his northern California property for over 20 years. The trial judge bifurcated the trial, which means that the jury could only hear evidence first on the link between Roundup and cancer. If it decided that Roundup could cause cancer, then it would go to the 2ndphase of the trial to consider if Roundup caused Mr. Hardeman’s cancer. During the first phase of the trial, the jury ruled that Roundup was a substantial factor in causing Hardeman’s non-Hodgkin lymphoma. During the second phase of the trial, the jury agreed with Mr. Hardeman that Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and that the product lacked sufficient warning of potential risks. The jury ruled that Monsanto had been negligent in not warning about risks, and it awarded damages to Mr. Hardeman. The jury gave Mr. Hardeman $5 Million in compensatory damages and $75 Million in punitive damages.
Contact our experienced legal team now for a free, no obligation case consultation. You may be entitled to substantial compensation for your injuries caused by Roundup. Also, you owe no legal fees unless you win!
CALL MILTON NOW – 706-207-5103
The time to file a claim is limited, so you need to act now before your time to file a claim expires!
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