Roundup-Maker Monsanto ordered to pay $ 80 million in damage to cancer victims: NPR
Edwin Hardeman sits with his wife, Mary, at a press conference after a San Francisco jury has given him $ 80 million in compensation for his claim that Roundup weedkiller caused his cancer.
Jeff Chiu / AP
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Jeff Chiu / AP
Edwin Hardeman sits with his wife, Mary, at a press conference after a San Francisco jury gave him $ 80 million in compensation for his claim that Roundup weedkiller caused his cancer.
Jeff Chiu / AP
A jury in San Francisco has awarded a California man $ 80 million in compensation after claiming that weedkiller Roundup caused his cancer.
The same six-person panel earlier this month sits with 70-year-old Edwin Hardeman, whose lawyers claimed that glyphosate-based herbicide was a "significant factor" by causing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in Hardeman.
The Sonoma County man was diagnosed in February 201[ads1]5. Hardeman had used Roundup on his 56 acre estate for more than two decades, according to his lawsuit.
In a statement by Bayer, the company that owns Roundup maker Monsanto, the company insisted that the product be safe and said it would appeal the verdict. "We are disappointed with the jury's decision, but this judgment does not change the weight of over four decades of extensive science and the conclusions of regulators around the world that support the safety of our glyphosate-based herbicides and that they are not carcinogenic. The judgment in This trial has no impact on future affairs and trials, as each has its own actual and legal affairs. "
Bayer and Monsanto face hundreds of other Roundup lawsuits in the San Francisco federal court.
As NPR's Vanessa Romo reported on the Hardeman case,
"The verdict is the second in the United States to find a connection between the main ingredient of the herbicide, glyphosate and the disease. In August, another jury in San Francisco decided at Roundup Monsanto, the company that developed the popular weedkiller, also deliberately did not intend to warn consumers or regulators of the product's risk.
"In that case, the jury is assigned to the plaintiff, Dewayne Johnson, $ 289 million . But a judge later slashed the compensation payout to $ 78 million. "
Monsanto also appeals to the August judgment.
" It is clear from Monsanto's actions that it does not care about Roundup causing cancer, instead focusing on manipulating public opinion and undermining anyone who raises real and legitimate concerns about Roundup, says the law firm representing Hardeman in a statement. "Today, the jury held resonance Monsanto responsible for his 40-year business failure and sent a message to Monsanto that it had to switch the way it did business."
