Will glyphosate-cancer lawsuits block development of safer pesticides?

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Dewayne Johnson sued Monsanto because he claimed the Round-Up he sprayed as part of his job as a schoolyard groundskeeper caused him to develop cancer. [Johnson] relied upon IARC’s classification of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Round-Up, to make his case. The jury believed [him], and also believed Monsanto hid knowledge of glyphosate’s role as a carcinogen.

Politico reported there are over 5,000 other cases just like [Johnson’s]. That is, people who have developed cancer, blame it on exposure to glyphosate, and want Monsanto to compensate them.

Just for fun, I did the math to see how much money [Bayer] would have to pay out if they lost all 5,000 lawsuits in the same fashion as they lost to [Johnson]…. they would be on the hook for:

$1,445,000,000,000

I don’t share that number because I’m afraid for Monsanto …. I’m afraid these lawsuits will create a chilling effect on the development of new, better pesticides. What company can risk thousands of multi-million dollar jury verdicts? The lesson here is that the risk is there even if the company’s product is effective, safe, and not known to cause disease in humans.

Read full, original article: This Is How Many Lawsuits Are Still Pending Against Monsanto For Glyphosate

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