First In A Flood Of Cases Over Roundup Weed Killer's Possible Link To Cancer Goes To Trial

Dewayne Johnson, who used the product in his job as a pest control manager at a San Francisco Bay Area school district, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2014 at the age of 42. He read the label carefully and even contacted the company over a rash he developed, but he says that he was never warned about the possibility it could cause cancer.

The Associated Press: First Trial Over Roundup Weed Killer Cancer Claim Under Way

Lawyers for a school groundskeeper dying of cancer asked a San Francisco jury on Monday to find that agribusiness giant Monsanto's widely used weed killer Roundup likely caused his disease. Dewayne Johnson's lawsuit is the first case to go to trial among hundreds of lawsuits saying Roundup caused non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Johnson sprayed Roundup and a similar product, Ranger Pro, at his job as a pest control manager at a San Francisco Bay Area school district, according to his attorneys. (7/9)

San Francisco Chronicle: Does Roundup Cause Cancer? Patient’s Case Against Monsanto Goes To Trial In SF

Dewayne “Lee” Johnson, 46, a former groundskeeper for the Benicia Unified School District, accused Monsanto of hiding evidence over the past two decades that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, can cause cancer. Monsanto has steadfastly defended its product, pointing to a slew of studies that find no evidence of danger in glyphosate, and noting that the Environmental Protection Agency has never restricted Roundup. Johnson, a husband and father of three, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma four years ago. In 2016, he filed a lawsuit claiming that the cause was his exposure to glyphosate. (Fimrite, 7/9)

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