Public Comment

California jurors deliberated for 3 days before awarding $289 million to a school groundskeeper, who developed cancer after using its weed killer, Roundup. Doctors say Dewayne Johnson, the plaintiff, is unlikely to live past 2020. The 46- year-old man was the first lawsuit to go to trial alleging Roundup causes cancer. Filed in 2016, it was fast-tracked due to the severity of Dewayne’s illness.  

When he first noticed lesions forming on his skin he reached out to Monsanto to seek clarification whether Roundup could be contributing to his health problems. Monsanto ignored his calls. During the legal discovery process, plaintiff lawyers learned that Monsanto had never tested the carcinogenicity of Roundup.  

Monsanto also released false articles in peer journals about the safety of the product.The jury at San Francisco’s Superior Court of California deliberated for three days before finding Monsanto had failed to warn Dewayne and other consumers of the cancer causing risks posed by its weed killers.  

Internal documents proved that Monsanto had known for decades that its products glyphosate and Roundup could cause cancer but withheld the information from the general public out of fear that its profits would be adversely impacted. Monsanto now faces more than 5,000 similar lawsuits across the United States and possibly more from other countries. This is another example of a giant corporation using its financial muscle to silence critics and putting profits ahead of public safety.