Bayer's
Monsanto asks U.S. court to toss $289 million glyphosate
verdict
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[September 19, 2018]
By Tina Bellon
(Reuters) - Bayer AG unit Monsanto on
Tuesday asked a California judge to throw out a $289 million jury
verdict awarded to a man who alleged the company's glyphosate-based
weed-killers, including Roundup, gave him cancer.
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The company said in motions filed in San Francisco's Superior Court
of California that the jury's decision was insufficiently supported
by the evidence presented at trial by school groundskeeper Dewayne
Johnson.
Johnson's case, filed in 2016, was fast-tracked for trial due to the
severity of his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph
system, that he alleged was caused by years of exposure to Roundup
and Ranger Pro, another Monsanto herbicide that contains glyphosate.
Monsanto asked Superior Court Judge Suzanne Bolanos, who oversaw the
trial, to set aside the verdict or, in the alternative, reduce the
award or grant a new trial. A hearing on the motions is set for Oct.
10.

The company, which denies the allegations, has previously said it
would appeal the verdict if necessary.
Johnson's case was the first to go to trial over allegations that
glyphosate causes cancer. Monsanto is facing some 8,000 similar
lawsuits across the United States.
Shares in Bayer, which bought Monsanto this year for $63 billion,
slid following the Aug. 10 jury decision and the stock was still
trading some 20 percent below its pre-verdict value of 73.30 euros
($85.45) on Tuesday.
"The jury's decision is wholly at odds with over 40 years of
real-world use, an extensive body of scientific data and analysis
... which support the conclusion that glyphosate-based herbicides
are safe for use and do not cause cancer in humans," Bayer said in a
statement on Tuesday.
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Bayer said Johnson failed to prove glyphosate caused his cancer and
the scientific evidence he presented at trial "fell well below the
causation standard required under California law."
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in September 2017 concluded
a decades-long assessment of glyphosate risks and found the chemical
is not a likely carcinogen to humans. However, the cancer unit of
the World Health Organization in 2015 classified glyphosate as
"probably carcinogenic to humans."
The jury found Monsanto failed to warn Johnson and other consumers
of the cancer risks posed by its weed-killers. It awarded $39
million in compensatory and $250 million in punitive damages.
The company in its motion for a new trial also said statements by
lawyers for Johnson inflamed and inappropriately influenced the
jurors. Some legal experts have said Monsanto faces long odds on
appeal on those grounds.
(Reporting by Tina Bellon; Editing by Tom Brown)
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