Bayer AG has been ordered in the USA to pay $1.25 million to plaintiff John Durnell. Durnell accuses the agricultural and pharmaceutical company of contracting cancer through contact with the weed killer Roundup. The verdict was reached by a jury in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. “The client and plaintiff’s attorneys are extremely pleased and grateful for the verdict after a hard-fought three-week trial,” said Durnell’s attorney, Wylie Blair.
The verdict ends a winning streak for the company, which has seen it win in the previous nine roundup trials. The trial was the first to prove that other chemicals besides the main ingredient glyphosate could cause cancer, Blair said. Bayer announced in a statement that it would appeal. “We remain confident in the safety of Roundup and will defend the safety of our products and our actions in good faith in any future litigation,” the company said.
Roundup-related lawsuits have dogged Bayer since it acquired the brand as part of a $63 billion takeover of seed and herbicide maker Monsanto Co. in 2018. The German company claims that decades of studies have shown that Roundup and its active ingredient glyphosate pose no danger to humans. Bayer settled most of the Roundup lawsuits against the company in 2020 for up to $10.9 billion, but still faces nearly 40,000 Roundup-related lawsuits.