Jury Awards $80M In Roundup Cancer Trial

A federal jury has awarded $80 million to a California man after determining that Monsanto’s popular weedkiller, Roundup, was a substantial factor in causing his cancer, and that the corporation is liable. The jury in San Francisco awarded compensatory damages at $5.27 million and punitive damages of $75 million to the plaintiff, Edwin Hardeman. During the first phase of the trial last week, the jury dealt a blow to Monsanto, saying Roundup was a substantial factor in causing Hardeman’s non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The second phase focused on the question of Monsanto’s legal responsibility, and what damages if any should be awarded. Hardeman claimed that Roundup’s design was defective, that the product lacked sufficient warning of potential risks and that Monsanto had been negligent in not warning about risks.