A Georgia jury on March 21 ordered agrochemical giant Bayer to pay $2.1 billion in damages to a man who claimed he developed cancer after using the company’s Roundup weedkiller, which contains glyphosate.
The jury awarded the plaintiff, John Barnes, $2 billion in punitive damages and $65 million in compensatory damages over claims that Roundup weedkiller caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer that forms in the lymph system.
Barnes’s lawyer, Kyle Findley, said the ruling was an “important milestone” in the legal battle that began in 2021, adding that the awarded penalties would help the plaintiff get the treatment for his illness.
“It’s been a long road for him ... and he was happy that the truth related to the product [has] been exposed,” Findley said on Sunday.
The Germany-based company said the verdict “conflicts with the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence and the consensus of regulatory bodies and their scientific assessments worldwide.”
“We believe that we have strong arguments on appeal to get this verdict overturned and the excessive and unconstitutional damage awards eliminated or reduced,” it stated.
Bayer said that it would “stand fully behind the safety” of Roundup, which it acquired through a $63 billion takeover of U.S. manufacturer Monsanto in 2018.
The company said it remains committed to “trying cases,” noting that it has prevailed in 17 of the past 25 trials. It also noted that some damage awards in previous cases have been reduced by 90 percent from the original jury awards.
“Our track record demonstrates that we win when plaintiffs’ attorneys and their experts are not allowed to misrepresent the worldwide regulatory and scientific assessments that continue to support the products’ safety,” it stated.
The plaintiff accused the company of ignoring several scientific studies related to the toxicity of Roundup and said the company had “tried to find ways to persuade and distract and deny the connection between this product and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.”
