According to the court documents from the ongoing Roundup cancer litigation, Monsanto made a monetary contribution to the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) to say 'Roundup is safe to use.'
In an email dated February 26, 2015, there were signs of Monsanto trying to influence the scientific community to push against the decision by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), who announced glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen. Another email from ACSH stated that Monsanto had not yet paid for their contribution to discredit the IARC’s findings, where Monsanto officials agreed to continue to give the group money. The revelations came following 15,000 product liability lawsuits filed throughout the U.S., against its new parent company, Bayer. Each allegation involves that the popular weed killer can increase the risk of cancer, particularly non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Around 13,400 lawsuits are pending in the federal multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2741; In Re: Roundup Products Liability Litigation) in the Northern District of California, which is overlooked by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria. A lawsuit filed by a woman alleging the use of Roundup for her non-Hodgkin's lymphoma will be the next to go for trial on February 10, 2020.
Earlier on May 13, 2019, a settlement of $2.055 billion was awarded to the California couple for the damages caused to them due to the exposure of glyphosate from Roundup. The settlement will eventually result in resolving the remaining Roundup lawsuits as it was the third trial out of 13,400 pending lawsuits against Bayer. But the legal experts have indicated that the company won't settle the pending verdicts.
