More Bad News for Monsanto

In recent years, individuals and families across the country have filed lawsuits against Monsanto. The plaintiffs allege that the company failed to warn consumers about cancer risks associated with its popular weed killer, Roundup. The product liability lawsuits specifically claim that exposure to Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, may cause people to suffer non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The litigation has led to many disturbing revelations about the company’s safety and research practices. As The New York Times reports, a federal judge presiding over mass litigation in California recently unsealed a large batch of Monsanto’s internal documents, including e-mails between employees and federal regulators. The e-mails reveal that Monsanto may have ghostwritten research and later attributed it to academics.

According to Reuters, the plaintiffs who have brought product liability claims against Monsanto allege that the company’s toxicology manager wrote parts of a report published in 2013 “that was published under the names of several academic scientists,” while the manager’s boss “ghostwrote parts of another [report] in 2000.”

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other regulatory agencies relied on these reports when they determined whether glyphosate was safe, Reuters reports. Additionally, the unsealed documents reveal that a senior official at the EPA may have worked with the company to suppress investigations of glyphosate after the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) declared in 2015 that the chemical is “probably carcinogenic to humans.” Although critics have expressed concern about the relationship that existed between the EPA and Monsanto, the agency is not yet a party to the lawsuit.

Monsanto’s executives continue to deny that exposure to glyphosate causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma or other forms of cancer. The company also denies that its employees ghostwrote articles. According to Monsanto, the articles were subjected to rigorous peer review by researchers.

Monsanto Litigation Update

Roundup litigation extends beyond the federal court in California. Individuals and families have filed numerous other lawsuits in federal and state courts across the country. The lawsuits generally allege that Monsanto failed to warn consumers that exposure to glyphosate could cause cancer, promoted false data and attacked research demonstrating the dangers of the chemical.

In 2015 alone, consumers sprayed 220 million pounds of glyphosate in the U.S., The New York Times reports. People use Roundup on crops, golf courses, residential lawns and more. Because of the chemical’s widespread use, thousands of individuals may have been exposed to glyphosate, from farmers to home gardeners.  The number of lawsuits against Monsanto should only continue to grow in the months and years ahead.

Get Help from a Roundup Cancer Risk Attorney Today

If you have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma or another type of cancer after using Roundup, contact Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., to learn more about your legal rights and options. Our law firm features offices in New York and New Jersey and represents clients across the country.  We can provide a free consultation today.