California Couple Awarded $2 Billion in Roundup Cancer Case

July 17, 2019

An elderly married couple who became ill after working on their Northern California family farm have been awarded more than $2 billion after proving to an Oakland, California jury that the a chemical in Monsanto’s weed-killer, Roundup, is responsible for their cancer. A Livermore, California farmer was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Soon after, his wife was diagnosed with the same cancer four years later. The couple had used the Roundup herbicide, which contains glyphosate, for 30 years.

Produced by chemical company Monsanto, which was acquired by drug-maker Bayer in 2018, Roundup is sold throughout the U.S. Millions of homeowners continue to use this readily available glyphosate-based product for lawn and garden maintenance on their properties. Alarmingly, glyphosate was declared a probable carcinogen in 2015 by the World Health Organization’s International Research Agency for Cancer.

Two recent lawsuits in San Francisco resulted in sizable settlements in similar cases against Monsanto. In March 2019, the jury in a separate case awarded $80 million to a man who claimed that 26 years of using Roundup resulted in his cancer. There are thousands of cases filed against the makers of Monsanto, in which the plaintiffs allege that they developed cancer as a result of using the weed-killer.

A Research Dispute

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that glyphosate does not cause cancer. However, some of their research has been called into question. In fact, their motives have been called suspect, as the plaintiffs’ lawyers claimed that the company used powerful connections to influence the findings released regarding the research on glyphosate. In addition to questioning the rationale behind the EPA’s safety claims, the plaintiffs’ lawyers presented internal emails of Monsanto employees attempting to entice reputable researchers to sign on to studies to assert that glyphosate is safe.

Dover Toxic Tort Lawyers at Jacobs & Crumplar, P.A. Represent Clients Injured by Harmful Chemicals

If you developed a preventable illness, such as cancer, as a result of exposure to a dangerous substance in household pesticides or other commonly available chemical products, you may be entitled to compensation for the harm inflicted upon you. The Dover toxic tort lawyers at Jacobs & Crumplar, P.A. will fight for you against the chemical companies responsible for your illness. Call us today at 302-656-5445 or contact us online to arrange a free consultation. Located in Wilmington and Georgetown, Delaware, we represent clients in Dover, New Castle County, and Sussex County.