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Jury Finds Roundup Caused Man's Cancer
USAgNet - 03/20/2019

A jury found that a man developed cancer from exposure to Roundup weedkiller he used in his yard, in the second case to go to trial over the alleged harms of the popular Bayer AG BAYRY 2.50% product.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the six-person jury in U.S. District Court in San Francisco now is set to begin hearing evidence to separately weigh whether Bayer's Monsanto unit should be held liable, a decision that could bring substantial financial damages against the company.

The verdict issued Tuesday marks another setback for Bayer, which has come under intense pressure since a jury in August reached a $289.2 million verdict in the first case over the weedkiller to go to trial. That decision, which sent Bayer shares down sharply, came soon after the German company completed its acquisition of Monsanto Co.

Bayer has appealed that verdict, which the trial judge cut down to $78.5 million.

Tuesday's verdict is likely to keep the heat on Bayer's share price, which hasn't recovered from its August drop.

Analysts and investors had seen Bayer at an advantage in this second trial after U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria agreed to split the evidence into two phases, with the first focusing solely on whether Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, are carcinogenic. In the first phase, jurors didn't hear allegations that the company hid dangers about its product from the public.

Bayer faces lawsuits in the U.S. from about 11,200 farmers, home gardeners and landscapers claiming its glyphosate-based herbicides cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other cancers. Six more trials are due to start this year in federal and state courts.

Bayer said Tuesday that it is disappointed with the jury's decision but "we continue to believe firmly that the science confirms that glyphosate-based herbicides do not cause cancer" and that the second phase of the trial "will show that Monsanto's conduct has been appropriate."


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