A San Francisco judge ruled July 10, 2018 that hundreds of lawsuits alleging that Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller caused cancer may proceed. [1]
At the center of the debate is glyphosate, the active chemical ingredient found in Roundup and other herbicide products. Cancer patients and their families claim Monsanto knew of the carcinogenic nature of the chemical, but failed to warn U.S. buyers. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria said there’s “rather weak” evidence the ingredient causes cancer, but the opinions of 3 experts linking glyphosate and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma did not base their findings off of “junk science.”
Read: 17 Scientists Speak Out – Monsanto’s Roundup is Causing Cancer
Monsanto Vice President Scott Partridge insists there is no connection between glyphosate and cancer. In the past, Monsanto sued California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment for adding the Roundup ingredient to its list of cancer-causing chemicals.
In a statement, Partridge said:
“Moving forward, we will continue to defend these lawsuits with robust evidence that proves there is absolutely no connection between glyphosate and cancer. We have sympathy for anyone suffering from cancer, but the science clearly shows that glyphosate was not the cause.” [2]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has wrestled with whether or not to declare glyphosate a carcinogen. But, in 2017, it came to light that an EPA official named Jess Rowland colluded with Monsanto to kill a study linking glyphosate to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma – so I’m not sure how much of an actual struggle it is for the EPA to conclude glyphosate likely non-carcinogenic.
While the EPA may think glyphosate is unlikely to pose any real cancer-linked threat, the World Health Organization (WHO) has classified it as “probably carcinogenic.” [1]
As of July 11, a trial involving claims that Roundup causes cancer has gone underway in San Francisco. In that case, a former school groundskeeper alleged that glyphosate caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
In deciding that the approximately 400 cases he is handling can move forward, Judge Chhabria stated that it could be a “daunting challenge” to convince him to permit a jury to hear testimony that glyphosate was responsible for causing multiple cases of cancer. [2]
Sources:
[1] USA Today
[2] HealthDay