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Jurors mull ‘day of reckoning’ in Roundup cancer trial
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 8, 2018 (AFP) – The lawyer for a California
groundskeeper dying of cancer urged jurors Tuesday to make Monsanto pay
hundreds of millions of dollars for failing to warn about the health risks of
weed killer Roundup.
“Today is their day of reckoning,” attorney Brent Wisner told jurors as he
urged them to impose a penalty of more than $400 million on Monsanto for
hiding the cancer-causing potential of Roundup and commercial strength
version Ranger Pro.
“Every single cancer risk found had this moment, where the science finally
caught up, where they couldn’t bury it anymore.”
Terminally-ill Dewayne Johnson watched as his attorney accused Monsanto of
putting profit over people’s health by fighting research signaling Roundup’s
potential cancer risks and failing to issue warnings.
Johnson, 46, testified that he would “never” have used Roundup or Ranger
Pro had he known it could lead to his illness.
The monthlong trial pits Johnson against the agrochemical colossus
recently acquired by Germany-based Bayer in a deal valued at about $62
billion.
Diagnosed in 2014 with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer that affects white
blood cells, Johnson used Ranger Pro repeatedly in his job at a school in
Benicia, California, after being promoted to groundskeeper in 2012.
Wisner said Monsanto opted against warning consumers of the risks and that
instead “they have fought science” by playing down the suspected link between
the chemical herbicide and cancer.
The case is the first to reach trial alleging a cancer link from Roundup,
one of the world’s most widely used herbicides.
– ‘High rhetoric’ –
The legal clash involves dueling studies, along with allegations Monsanto
thwarted potentially damning research.
“There was a lot of high rhetoric here about just how terrible things are
at Monsanto,” defense attorney George Lombardi said during closing arguments.
MORE/MR/ 1035 hrs
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“Unless (Wisner) can tie it to Mr Johnson’s cancer, none of this means
anything.”
Wisner accused Monsanto of attacking research using the same tactics
previously employed by other businesses to conceal proof of the health
hazards of tobacco, benzene and asbestos.
“They are using the same playbook,” Wisner told AFP outside the courtroom.
“We know how the tobacco story ends and we know how the Monsanto story will
end at some point in my lifetime.”
Johnson was drenched with the weed-killer twice when spraying gear
malfunctioned, according to testimony at trial.
He called the Monsanto hotline, but received no follow-up calls from
representatives despite promises they would do so.
Instead, Monsanto started plotting defenses for Roundup, ghost-writing
research and citing it, according to Wisner.
Wisner contended that the active ingredient glyphosate, combined with
other chemicals in the weed killer, resulted in a cancer-causing “synergy.”
A key to Johnson’s case will be whether jurors are convinced that
Monsanto’s pesticide caused or exacerbated his illness.
“We all know cancer is a complicated disease,” Wisner said while stressing
that the bar for proving cases in civil suits is lower than that in criminal
cases.
“We don’t have to show Roundup was the sole cause; we only have to show it
is a contributor.”
Glyphosate’s cancer links have been the source of long debate among
government regulators, health experts and lawyers.
If Monsanto loses, the case could open the door to hundreds of additional
lawsuits against the company.
“Your verdict will be heard around the world,” Wisner told jurors.
“Monsanto will have to finally do something — conduct those studies they
never conducted and warn those people they never warned.”
Jurors return to the San Francisco courtroom early Wednesday for
instructions from the judge before commencing deliberations.
“The message from the evidence is clear, and that is this cancer was not
caused by Ranger Pro,” Lombardi argued.
“The facts are what should lead you in this case.”
Lombardi questioned the timing of Johnson’s diagnosis, saying it came so
soon after using the weed killer that it was more likely his cancer had
already taken hold.
“The story just doesn’t make sense,” Lombardi told jurors.
Launched in 1976, Monsanto’s flagship herbicide Roundup has been approved
by the US Environmental Protection Agency for decades.
In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer — a World Health
Organization body — classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic,” and as
a result, California listed it as carcinogenic.
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