News

Actions

Jury awards $289 million to man who claimed Roundup weed killer caused cancer

Posted at 4:48 PM, Aug 10, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-10 18:48:58-04
Round Up weed killer
In this Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017, photo, containers of Roundup, left, a weed killer is seen on a shelf with other products for sale at a hardware store in Los Angeles. California regulators are taking a pivotal step toward requiring the popular weed killer Roundup to come with a warning label. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A San Francisco jury has awarded $289 million to a former school groundskeeper who claimed Monsanto’s popular Roundup weed killer contributed to his terminal cancer.

In its decision Friday, the state court jury found the agribusiness giant failed to adequately warn of the risks of using Roundup.

Dewayne Johnson’s lawyers said he sprayed Roundup and a similar product, Ranger Pro, in large quantities as a pest control manager at a San Francisco Bay Area school district. He developed a rash and was 42 when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2014.

Monsanto’s lawyer, George Lombardi, said non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma takes years to develop, so Johnson’s cancer must have started before he worked for the district.

The company has denied ties between glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, and cancer.

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)