JEFFERSON CITY — A Cole County jury on Friday ordered Bayer to pay $1.56 billion to four plaintiffs who claimed the company’s Roundup weedkiller caused cancer and other injuries.
Valorie Gunther of New York, Jimmy Draeger of Missouri and Daniel Anderson of California were awarded a combined $61.1 million in compensatory damages and $500 million each in punitive damages, Reuters reported. Each plaintiff was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma that they alleged was caused by using Roundup on their family property. Draeger’s wife, Brenda, was awarded $100,000 for the harm she allegedly suffered from her husband’s disease.
Bayer contends Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, are safe for human use.
The verdict is the fourth straight loss in court for Bayer, after the company had been found not liable to plaintiffs in nine consecutive trials, Reuters said.
People are also reading…
Around 165,000 claims have been made against the company for personal injuries allegedly caused by Roundup, which Bayer acquired as part of its $63 billion purchase of Creve Coeur-based Monsanto in 2018.
Bayer settled in 2020 settled most of the then-pending Roundup cases for up to $10.9 billion. Around 50,000 claims remain pending, according to regulatory filings.
The company in a statement issued after the verdict said: “In contrast to prior trials, recent trial courts improperly permitted plaintiffs to misrepresent the worldwide regulatory and scientific support for our products by falsely characterizing the EU’s reapproval process and EPA’s assessment of glyphosate as safety concerns. In fact, the EU Commission just last week re-approved glyphosate for another 10 years following positive scientific assessments, and the EPA continues to reaffirm that glyphosate is not carcinogenic. Additionally, the Ninth Circuit just this month concluded ‘IARC stands essentially alone in its determination that glyphosate is probably carcinogenic to humans, while EPA, OEHHA, and regulators from around the world conclude that it is not.’
“We have strong arguments to get the recent unfounded verdicts overturned. We won 9 of the last 13 trials and the majority of claims in this litigation are resolved. The Company remains fully committed to defending the robust scientific and regulatory evidence in future trials and appeals.â€