German Bayer group has suffered in a sub-process on the controversial weedkiller glyphosate before the Federal district court in the U.S. state of California, a serious setback. The six jurors, the Jury concluded unanimously that the glyphosate containing Roundup, a Bayer subsidiary, Monsanto has made a “substantial factor” in causing the cancer to the plaintiff, Edwin Hardeman.
With this vote, the process goes before the same Jury in its second Phase, which deals with the question of the responsibility of the group and any claims for damages. First had to be clarified whether or not Roundup has actually caused the disease, is now being negotiated about whether or not Monsanto deceived about the risks and the possible damages could be.
Bayer, the “firmly convinced”: glyphosate Should not be a cause for cancer
your US subsidiary is actually liable explained, this could cost Bayer AG, a lot of money and would be the second legal defeat within a year. Already in August, had Monsanto been in a different process in San Francisco for the payment of compensation to Dewayne Johnson sentenced. However, this judgment is not yet final, Bayer had filed an appeal.
About the recent decision of Bayer expressed disappointment. As a company, we are convinced, “continues to firmly believe that the available scientific evidence confirms that glyphosate-based herbicides do not cause cancer,” it said in a statement. The group was confident “that the evidence in the second Phase of the process will show that Monsanto’s behavior was appropriate and the company should not be for the cancer of Mr. Hardeman held liable”.
Both of the applicants – both Johnson and Hardeman – suffer from Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph tissue. And both of the applicants have used Roundup for many years. The 70-year-old Hardeman 25 years on his land, Johnson during his long career as a School janitor.
a Total of 11.200 lawsuits against Bayer in the U.S.
The case of the Californian Hardeman is considered to be the so-called bellwether trial, he is one of a number of representative cases, which are used in product liability lawsuits in the United States, to determine the injury margin and possibilities for comparison. He could set the direction for the more than 760 other at the court in San Francisco pending cases. Currently, judge Vince Chhabria of complaints from farmers, gardeners and consumers in the U.S. combined.
glyphosate – Background: glyphosate
was First synthesized glyphosate in 1950. Since the seventies, the substance is used in agriculture. As an essential ingredient of plant protection product Roundup of the group’s Monsanto, it kills weeds in fields with oilseed rape, Maize and other crops.
Up to today, glyphosate is by far the most widely used pesticide. Its use has doubled in the past ten years, such as the study of a pesticide researcher shows (Benbrook et al., 2016). In Germany, farmers buy every year, around 5,000 tonnes of glyphosate-plant protection products – the proportion of the active ingredient at all-selling herbicides, is a good third.
First of all, the chemical was used before sowing, in order to rid Fields of weeds. However, since there are genetically modified plants that are glyphosate-resistant, it can also be used after sowing.
All articles on the topic of glyphosate, there is the TIME-ONLINE-page themes.
