A jury in California awarded $289 million to a man who claimed that exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller caused his cancer. The decision is the first of its kind, and will have ripple effects across industries as more lawsuits are filed alleging Roundup causes cancer.
The “what is the latest news on the roundup lawsuit?” is a question that has been asked by many people. The Morgan & Morgan Law Firm has recently released an update on their website about the Roundup lawsuit.
With the Nebraska Roundup Lawsuits, the dangers of glyphosate have come full circle.
Larry Domina, a third-generation Nebraska farmer, was one of the first to launch a case against Monsanto, claiming that the weed killer Roundup caused non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Bayer, Monsanto’s parent firm, received permission to have lawsuits tried in Nebraska in June. The case’s relocation to that state is appropriate since it was there that experts, notably Dr. Dennis Weisenburger, first discovered the relationship between agricultural pesticides and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Weisenburger has been participating as an expert witness for plaintiffs in the Roundup litigation. He is well known for claiming that using Roundup for more than two days a year doubles the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Weisenburger, on the other hand, has been researching herbicide-cancer correlations since the 1980s, when he was a researcher at the University of Nebraska.
Domina and Weisenburger will be key players as Monsanto attempts to turn its legal fortunes around in the United States’ heartland.
A Nebraska farmer is the third to file a lawsuit against Roundup.
Larry Domina was an early supporter of Monsanto Roundup Ready crops when they were first launched in the 1990s. Farmers like Domina were able to spray Roundup all over their fields without worry of hurting their harvest or having to spot-spray weeds by using such crops, which have been genetically engineered to withstand Roundup herbicide.
Domina told the Omaha World-Herald, “It was almost magical.”
However, after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2012, Domina started to question whether the agricultural pesticides he employed on his farm were to blame.
“I used a lot of chemicals, and I’m sure there were a lot of occasions when I didn’t wash my hands after being in all sorts of things,” he stated.
Domina’s cancer is no longer active. Since his recovery, he has limited the number of chemicals that may have caused his cancer down to just one: glyphosate, the key component in Roundup.
After learning about a study from the International Agency for Research on Cancer that categorized glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans,” Larry Domina’s brother, David, launched a case against Monsanto. It is the third Roundup case in the United States, filed on behalf of Larry Domina and three other Nebraskans who were treated for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
“People from Monsanto promised us [Roundup] was safe,” David Domina claimed. “In fact, they said it was so safe that we could drink it.” However, if Roundup is a cause of cancer, we need to take action. We need to get it off the market as soon as possible. Monsanto, on the other hand, ought to do a far better job of educating people and warning them to be cautious.”
Bayer requested the court handling federal Roundup lawsuit to enable trials in additional states after losing three major cases in California. Bayer may be banking that jurors in the heart of farming country would be more sympathetic than those in California, where plaintiffs were awarded more than $2 billion.
From UNMC researcher to expert witness for the plaintiffs
Weisenburger said during his testimony on behalf of Alva and Alberta Pilliod that the issue of whether Roundup causes cancer is “not a hard judgment.”
“If you take it more than two days each year, your chance of non-lymphoma Hodgkin’s increases double,” Weisenburger stated during the Pilliods’ trial. “The more you use it, the higher your danger becomes.” Exposure of a little amount did not enhance your risk, while exposure of a larger amount did.”
Before relocating to the City of Hope Medical Center in Los Angeles, Weisenburger worked for 28 years at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha. Weisenburger was one of the researchers looking into why farmers had a higher risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma when he was a young doctor at UNMC.
“I was warned that Nebraska had a high lymphoma rate. “That caught my attention,” Weisenburger stated during his testimony for Edward Hardeman.
Weisenburger initially published a paper on the subject in 1985, and the Nebraska research resulted in roughly a dozen articles, according to him. Some of the Nebraska data was merged with data from other studies to do further in-depth research, including a report published in 2003 by the National Cancer Institute. Farmers who employed glyphosate had a cancer risk twice as high as the general population, according to the study’s results.
“To the best of medical certainty, I think that Roundup is a considerable cause of cancer in those who are exposed to it in the job or in the environment,” Weisenburger said at trial when asked whether he felt Roundup may cause cancer.
“When you have Roundup on your skin, it will penetrate the cells of your skin, just as Roundup penetrates plant cells, and it will go into the tissues, and it will then travel into the lymph system and into the blood,” Weisenburger said. As glyphosate travels through the body, it comes into contact with all of those tissues.”
Plaintiffs have been accused by Bayer of cherry-picking data to substantiate their arguments. In Mr. Hardeman’s lawsuit, it alleged that Weisenburger’s evidence was given “exclusively for this action.” Bayer’s lawyers attempted to exclude Weisenburger’s evidence via a Daubert petition, but their attempts were unsuccessful.
For the future Nebraska Roundup trials, David Domina intends to call Weisenburger as an expert witness. If he does, Weisenburger will be back where he started his studies. And, once again, his testimony might be critical in ensuring that Roundup cancer patients get justice.
A “best lawyer for roundup lawsuit” is a question that has been asked by many people. The Morgan & Morgan Law Firm is one of the best lawyers in the country who can help you with your Roundup case.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average payout for the Roundup lawsuit?
A: The average payout for the Roundup lawsuit is $5.
How do I know if I qualify for the Roundup lawsuit?
A: You qualify for the lawsuit if you purchased a product from Amazon between September 24, 2017 and October 23, 2018.
How many Roundup lawsuits have been settled?
A: As of December 31, 2018, 11 Roundup lawsuits have been settled.
Related Tags
- what is the average payout for roundup lawsuit
- roundup settlement checks 2020
- roundup lawsuit settlement amounts per person 2020
- roundup class action lawsuit deadline
- roundup settlement checks 2021