On Tuesday, March 19, as a major setback to Monsanto, the first phase of the closely watched Roundup trial concluded with the San Francisco federal jury affirming that Monsanto's weed killer was a substantial cause of cancer in a California man.
The unanimous verdict was given by five women and one man in favor of a 70-year old plaintiff after a week of deliberations. The jury rejected Monsanto's argument that there was no possibility to detect the cause of the plaintiff's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). The bellwether trial, which began on February 25, was split into two phases; in the first phase, the jury was supposed to decide whether scientific studies support the conclusion that Roundup and its active component, glyphosate, can lead to NHL and whether glyphosate exposure was the reason for the plaintiff's cancer. Damages and other claims would be decided by the jury in the second phase. The plaintiff used Roundup products on his Sonoma County property between the 1980s and 2012. He was diagnosed with NHL in 2015. Though Monsanto strongly denies responsibility for the man's cancer, the second phase of the trial would determine whether the company was liable or not.
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria overlooks the Roundup lawsuits, which are consolidated into multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2741; In Re: Roundup Products Liability Litigation) in the Northern District of California.
