The Strategist

Monsanto to pay $ 289 million fine for cancer-causing herbicide



08/15/2018 - 05:32



The American company Monsanto, previously acquired by the German Bayer for $ 66 billion, lost a case in the San Francisco District Court. The company will be liable to pay a $ 289 million fine to a school gardener DeWayne Johnson, who was diagnosed with cancer after using the Roundup herbicide.



Mike Mozart via flickr
Mike Mozart via flickr
In 2014, Johnson was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He used the Roundup for many years and several times, through inadvertently, spilled the substance on himself.

As the media write, the jury recognized that the glyphosate, which is part of the herbicide, causes cancer, and considered the company's actions to conceal this fact malicious. Now Monsanto is threatened with thousands of similar claims from US citizens.

Monsanto itself rejects the charges and intends to appeal the decision of the court. According to Monsanto vice president Scott Partridge, "the court's decision does not negate more than 800 scientific studies, as well as the conclusions of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Institutes of Health of USA and regulatory bodies around the world, which state that glyphosate does not cause cancer and did not cause it in Mr. Johnson."

There is no consensus on the effects of the use of glyphosate, the most common element in herbicides. The International Agency for Research on Cancer considers this substance "probably carcinogenic," while the EPA claims that glyphosate is safe with careful use.

California is known for its controversial judgments. In particular, recently a district judge in the state ruled that consumers should be warned that coffee could cause cancer.

Shares of Bayer fall in price by 11%, a record pace for two years.

source: reuters.com




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