California jury: Monsanto a “substantial factor” in couple’s cancer, awards $2 billion in damages

For the third time in 2019, a jury has determined there is enough evidence to hold Monsanto's Roundup culpable in causing someone's cancer.

For the third time in 2019, a jury has determined there is enough evidence to hold Monsanto’s Roundup culpable in causing someone’s cancer.

On May 14, a jury in Oakland decided that a California couple’s use of Roundup for residential landscaping over a 30-year period was a “substantial factor” that led to both contracting non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The jury awarded the couple the largest amount to date—more than $2 billion in damages.

“Hearing the details in each of these cancer trials is heartbreaking. But it is gratifying that juries are taking the risks of glyphosate [the key ingredient in Roundup] seriously and are acting accordingly,” said Ban Roundup Campaign Director Kara Cook-Schultz. “We’ve been warning consumers that Roundup is a possible health risk and our hope now is that verdicts like the one today reinforce the need for action.”

U.S. PIRG and our national network are calling on governors to ban Roundup unless and until it is proven safe.

Read our press release.

Photo: NBC news coverage of the $2 billion verdict against Monsanto. Photo Credit: NBC News