Beyond The Verdict: Bayer's Recent Loss Is Not Necessarily A Win.
Beyond The Verdict: Bayer's Recent Loss Is Not Necessarily A Win.
Bayer/Monsanto Ordered By Jury To Pay Out, Again, But The Fight To Warn Consumers About Roundup Continues.
Last week, a jury issued the largest verdict yet against Monsanto and its parent company, Bayer, one of the largest agrochemical companies in the world.
The company was ordered to pay $2.25 billion to a Pennsylvania man who said he developed cancer from exposure to the company’s Roundup weedkiller.
Here we go again.
The jury sided with John McKivison, 49, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He sued the company, saying he developed cancer after using Roundup on his property for two decades.
He’s not alone. He’s one of numerous people who claim to have developed cancer after extended use of the product.
Cancer patients Dewayne Johnson, Edwin Hardeman and Alva and Alberta Pilliod, have been awarded tens of millions, and even billions, of dollars, though judges later reduced those amounts.
The company has paid more than $10 billion in settlements to thousands of cancer patients and their estates who have sued Monsanto, accusing the company of failing to adequately warn consumers of the risk.
Every attorney who wins these cases declares how it’s “a historic win” against a Goliath company, and that justice has been served.
But Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, said it will appeal the verdict and believes it will be able to get the “unconstitutionally excessive damage award eliminated or reduced.”
How is this company even allowed to stay in business? I’m so sick of this profit-over-people corporate mentality that plagues our society.
They say for years and years that their product is safe, they make tons of money, and then the evidence comes out.
When juries in courtrooms see the science and how people’s health has been impacted, they unanimously say the company is at fault. Yet, the company continues to deny and dismiss these claims keeping up business as usual.
We’ve written about this product over the years and warned about the safety of one of its main active ingredients, glyphosate. In fact, one of our most popular newsletters on this site, is this one:
If it’s been a while since you read that piece, I encourage you to go back and review some of the research.
Since we now have another verdict, I want to bring attention to a 2021 book: Toxic Exposure: The True Story behind the Monsanto Trials and the Search for Justice written by cancer specialist Chadi Nabhan, MD, MBA, an expert witness who testified in the first three trials against Monsanto. Dr. Nabhan is a hematologist and a medical oncologist with decades of experience treating patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, who also serves on the editorial board of JAMA-Oncology.
In the book, he tells the story of how for years, Monsanto, the original maker of Roundup, declared this product to be safe.
All that changed in 2015, when the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) analyzed data from scientific studies and concluded that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is probably carcinogenic. IARC also concluded that there was “strong” evidence for genotoxicity, both for “pure” glyphosate and for glyphosate formulations.
The Environmental Protection Agency disagreed, other regulatory agencies got involved, and scientists clamored to understand the link between glyphosate and cancer.
Dr. Nabhan discusses these pivotal trials, explaining key features of the cases, including how Monsanto downplayed the IARC's scientific conclusions, may have worked to change how the EPA classified glyphosate, and conducted extensive PR campaigns designed to minimize the public’s perception of the negative health effects of its product.
In 2022, the EPA was ordered by a federal appeals court to take a fresh look at whether glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup posed unreasonable risks to humans and the environment. That review is ongoing.
My point of talking about this case is just to highlight how the system meant to protect us is not working. If companies can sway the scientific results of chemicals, if juries can award verdicts that later get reduced or appealed, what have we really gained? People are still sick. No warning labels have been issued for this controversial product.
Last week’s verdict comes after five other recent wins last year by plaintiffs suing Bayer over Roundup, though the company won the most recent trial in December, as well earlier trials. In total, it has won 10 of the last 16 Roundup trials.
About 165,000 claims have been made in the U.S. against the company for personal injuries. Bayer continues to contest them, saying that decades of studies have shown Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, are safe for human use.
Roundup is still among the most widely used weedkillers in the U.S., though the company phased out its sales for home use last year. Roundup products featuring glyphosate are still available online and in retail stores such as Home Depot and Lowes.
Interestingly, Germany, the home of Bayer, has banned its use in public spaces and planned a total ban for it at the end of 2023.
In 2020, Bayer settled most of the then-pending Roundup cases for up to $9.6 billion, according to reporting in Reuters, but failed to get a settlement covering future cases. More than 50,000 claims remain pending.
The company said in November that it would continue fighting the cases in court and had “no appetite to write humongous checks” to settle them.
More Roundup trials are expected this year.
This is why I continue to say Superman’s not coming, and neither are our elected officials, our regulatory agencies, or lawyers. I’ve worked alongside law firms for years, and I have come to the conclusion that corruption is everywhere.
We have to review the facts ourselves and do our best to protect our communities. We have to continue to speak up and speak out so that more people can join this movement. We all need to stand for the people, not for the profits.
Are you encouraged or deflated by this recent win against the manufacturer of Roundup? Sound off in the comments below!