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SAN FRANCISCO – A Federal Court jury on Wednesday awarded more than $ 80 million in damages to a man in Sonoma County who blamed the Roundup herbal killer for his cancer. This case could be decisive, according to his lawyers, could help determine the fate of hundreds of similar lawsuits.
Edwin Hardeman proved that Roundup's design was flawed, that it lacked sufficient cancer warnings and that its manufacturer, food giant Monsanto, had been negligent, the jury said. six people in San Francisco.
The company awarded Hardeman more than $ 5 million in compensation and $ 75 million in punitive damages. Hardeman, 70, put his arm around his wife, Mary, as she read the verdict and hugged her lawyers.
According to Monsanto, studies have shown that glyphosate, the active ingredient in its widely used herbicide, is safe. The company said that it would appeal.
"We are disappointed with the jury's decision, but this verdict does not change the weight of more than four decades of deep science and the conclusions of regulators around the world who support the safety of our glyphosate herbicides and are not carcinogenic, "according to a statement from Bayer, who acquired Monsanto last year.
Hardeman has used Roundup products to treat poisoned oak, overgrowth and weeds on his North Bay property for years. The same jury had previously concluded that Roundup was an important factor in Hardeman's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
"Today, the jury has sent a strong message: companies should no longer place products on the market that anyone could buy without telling the truth, without testing their product and without warning if it causes cancer." Said Jennifer Moore, one of Hardeman's lawyers.
Hardeman and his wife thanked their lawyers and jurors, but declined to comment further.
Hardeman has been living in Sonoma County since 1988, when he moved to a Forestville home with his wife, where the couple lived until about five years ago.
Much of the use of the Roundup involved in the lawsuit occurred on his Forestville property. During the trial, he told the jury that he regularly used the weed killer on his 56-acre lot, and often put it on his skin.
He used Roundup to eliminate weeds like Scottish broom and poison oak growing on the ground, he said, after developing a poisoned oak rash from brushcutting.
"Sometimes you could … spray and an afternoon wind would come up. You have winds there. And you get a little backfire, and it would fall back, "said Hardeman at the trial.
Before living in Forestville, he lived in Gualala, Mendocino County, where he also used Roundup, he said.
Another jury in August awarded $ 289 million to another man, but a judge reduced it to $ 78 million. Monsanto appealed this case.
Hardeman's trial may be more important than this case. US Judge Vince Chhabria, who oversees hundreds of Roundup trials, has ruled the case of Mr. Hardeman and two other "pending trials".
The outcome of such cases may help lawyers decide to continue to fight or settle them. Legal experts said the verdicts in favor of Hardeman and the other test-plaintiffs would give their lawyers a strong position in negotiations for a settlement of the remaining cases before the Chhabria.
Bayer says that all government regulators who have examined the issue have rejected the link between cancer and glyphosate.
Monsanto developed glyphosate in the 1970s and the weed killer is now sold in more than 160 countries and widely used in the United States.
The herbicide has been the subject of increased surveillance after the International Center for Research on Cancer, based in France, which is part of the World Health Organization, the ## 147 ######################################################################### Rated it as "probable carcinogen for humans" in 2015.
Prosecutions against Monsanto have followed, and thousands are now on hold across the country.
Monsanto criticized the opinion of the international research agency. The United States Environmental Protection Agency stated that glyphosate was safe for people if it was used according to the label's instructions for use.
Press Democrat editor Andrew Beale contributed to this story.
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