Once it was scientifically-proven that glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto’s weedkiller Roundup, causes cancer, a school groundskeeper from California took Monsanto to court. Lee Johnson was diagnosed with cancer in 2014, following years of mixing and using the weedkiller at his job site in Benicia, California, and now Monsanto will pay $289 million for the damages after jurors found them guilty at a court in San Francisco.
Glyphosate was approved for use by Monsanto in 1974 and, today, Roundup is the world’s most popular herbicide. This decision has significant implications for the German company, Bayer AG, which bought Monsanto in June 2018, as it creates “huge potential liability” for the corporation.
The trial was an important test of the evidence against Monsanto and will serve as a template for litigating thousands of other claims over the herbicide. Despite the decision, Monsanto and its legal team maintain that there is no link between glyphosate and cancerous growth.
Read the full article below to learn more about the court case and the science behind chemical-based herbicides:
