Image copyright AFP Image caption Crops are often treated with the herbicide glyphosate

Chemical giant Monsanto has been ordered to pay $289m (£226m) damages to a man who claimed herbicides containing glyphosate had caused his cancer.

In a landmark case, a Californian jury found that Monsanto knew its Roundup and RangerPro weedkillers were dangerous and failed to warn consumers.

It's the first lawsuit to go to trial alleging a glyphosate link to cancer.

Monsanto denies that glyphosate causes cancer and says it intends to appeal against the ruling.

"The jury got it wrong," vice-president Scott Partridge said outside the courthouse in San Francisco.

The claimant in the case, groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson, is among more than 5,000 similar plaintiffs across the US.

Correspondents say the California ruling is likely to lead to hundreds of other claims against Monsanto, which was recently bought by the German conglomerate Bayer AG.

Mr Johnson was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2014. His lawyers said he regularly used a form of RangerPro while working at a school in Benicia, California.

Glyphosate controversy far from settled

Analysis by James Cook, BBC North America Correspondent

Image copyright Reuters

The implications of this verdict will be felt far beyond Monsanto's headquarters in Missouri.

Glyphosate is the world's most common weedkiller and the science about its safety is still far from settled.

In 2015 the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the World Health Organisation's cancer agency, concluded that it was "probably carcinogenic to humans" . but the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to insist that glyphosate is safe when used carefully.

Campaigners question how the EPA assessment was reached, citing evidence of what they say was inappropriate industry involvement in the decision.

Some Democrats have even called for a Department of Justice investigation into alleged collusion between government officials and Monsanto .

In California, where a judge recently ruled that coffee must carry a cancer warning, the agriculture industry sued to prevent such a label for glyphosate even though the state lists it as a chemical known to cause cancer .

In Europe, too, the battle over glyphosate has been fierce. French President Emmanuel Macron is trying to ban it despite the resistance of some French lawmakers and the fact that the European Commission recently granted the weedkiller another five-year licence .

Jurors found on Friday that the company had acted with "malice" and that its weedkillers contributed "substantially" to Mr Johnson's terminal illness.

Following an eight-week trial, the jury ordered the agricultural multi-national to pay $250m in punitive damages together with other costs that brought the total figure to almost $290m.

Mr Johnson's lawyer, Brent Wisner, said the jury's verdict showed that the evidence against the product was "overwhelming".

"When you are right, it is really easy to win," he said, adding that the ruling was just "the tip of the spear" of future legal cases.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Dewayne Johnson (R) hugged his lawyer after hearing the verdict

In a statement after the ruling, Monsanto said it was "sympathetic to Mr Johnson and his family" but it would "continue to vigorously defend this product, which has a 40-year history of safe use".

"Today's decision does not change the fact that more than 800 scientific studies and reviews - and conclusions by the US Environmental Protection Agency, the US National Institutes of Health and regulatory authorities around the world - support the fact that glyphosate does not cause cancer, and did not cause Mr Johnson's cancer," it added.</s>Monsanto ordered to pay $289 million to man who claims Roundup weed killer caused cancer

Agribusiness giant Monsanto has been ordered by to pay $US289 million ($396 million) to a former school groundskeeper dying of cancer, with a San Francisco jury saying the company's popular Roundup weed killer contributed to his disease.

The lawsuit was the first to go to trial among hundreds filed in state and federal US courts claiming Roundup causes non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which Monsanto denies.

Jurors in California's Superior Court agreed the product contributed to Dewayne Johnson's cancer and the company should have provided a label warning of the potential health hazard.

Mr Johnson's attorneys sought and won $US39 million in compensatory damages and $US250 million of the $US373 million they wanted in punitive damages.

"This jury found Monsanto acted with malice and oppression because they knew what they were doing was wrong and doing it with reckless disregard for human life," said Robert F Kennedy Jr, a member of Mr Johnson's legal team.

Monsanto has denied a link between the active ingredient in Roundup — glyphosate — and cancer, saying hundreds of studies have established that glyphosate is safe.

Mr Johnson used Roundup and a similar product, Ranger Pro, as a pest control manager at a San Francisco Bay Area school district, his lawyers said. He sprayed large quantities from a 189 litre tank attached to a truck, and during gusty winds the product would cover his face, one of his attorneys, Brent Wisner, said.

In one instance a hose broke and the weed killer soaked his entire body.

Mr Johnson read the label and even contacted the company after developing a rash but was never warned it could cause cancer.

He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2014 at age 42.

"The simple fact is he is going to die. It's just a matter of time," Mr Wisner told the jury in his opening statement last month.

But George Lombardi, an attorney for Monsanto, said non-Hodgkin's lymphoma takes years to develop, so Johnson's cancer must have started well before he began working at the school district.

The US Environmental Protection Agency says Roundup's active ingredient is safe for people when used in accordance with label directions.

However, the France-based International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organisation, classified it as a "probable human carcinogen" in 2015. And California has added glyphosate to its list of chemicals known to cause cancer.</s>SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A San Francisco jury on Friday ordered agribusiness giant Monsanto to pay $289 million to a former North Bay school groundskeeper dying of cancer, saying the company’s popular Roundup weed killer contributed to his disease.

Dewayne Johnson’s lawsuit was the first of hundreds of cases filed in state and federal courts alleging that Roundup causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which Monsanto denies.

Jurors in state Superior Court agreed the product contributed to Johnson’s cancer and the company should have provided a label warning of the potential health hazard. Johnson’s attorneys sought and won $39 million in compensatory damages and $250 million of the $373 million they wanted in punitive damages.

“This jury found Monsanto acted with malice and oppression because they knew what they were doing was wrong and doing it with reckless disregard for human life,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a member of Johnson’s legal team. “This should send a strong message to the boardroom of Monsanto.”

Monsanto has denied a link between the active ingredient in Roundup — glyphosate — and cancer, saying hundreds of studies have established that glyphosate is safe.

Monsanto spokesman Scott Partridge said the company will appeal. Partridge said scientific studies and two government agencies have concluded that Roundup does not cause cancer.

“We are sympathetic to Mr. Johnson and his family,” Partridge said. “We will appeal this decision and continue to vigorously defend this product, which has a 40-year history of safe use and continues to be a vital, effective, and safe tool for farmers and others.”

Johnson used Roundup and a similar product, Ranger Pro, as a pest control manager for the Benicia Unified School District in Solano County, his lawyers said. He sprayed large quantities from a 50-gallon tank attached to a truck, and during gusty winds, the product would cover his face, said Brent Wisner, one of his attorneys.

Once, when a hose broke, the weed killer soaked his entire body.

Johnson read the label and even contacted the company after developing a rash but was never warned it could cause cancer, Wisner said. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2014 at age 42.

“The simple fact is he is going to die. It’s just a matter of time,” Wisner told the jury in his opening statement last month.

But George Lombardi, an attorney for Monsanto, said non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma takes years to develop, so Johnson’s cancer must have started well before he began working at the school district.
• Melania Trump’s parents sworn in as US citizens The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says Roundup’s active ingredient is safe for people when used in accordance with label directions.

However, the France-based International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, classified it as a “probable human carcinogen” in 2015. California added glyphosate to its list of chemicals known to cause cancer.</s>San Francisco jury awards $289 million to school groundskeeper who says Roundup weed killer caused his cancer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco jury awards $289 million to school groundskeeper who says Roundup weed killer caused his cancer.</s>A California jury ordered chemical giant Monsanto to pay nearly $290 million Friday for failing to warn a dying groundskeeper that its weed killer Roundup might cause cancer.

Jurors unanimously found that Monsanto — which vowed to appeal — acted with “malice” and that its weed killers Roundup and the professional grade version RangerPro contributed “substantially” to Dewayne Johnson’s terminal illness.

Following eight weeks of trial proceedings, the San Francisco jury ordered Monsanto to pay $250 million in punitive damages along with compensatory damages and other costs, bringing the total figure to nearly $290 million.

Johnson, a California groundskeeper diagnosed in 2014 with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma — a cancer that affects white blood cells — says he repeatedly used a professional form of Roundup while working at a school in Benicia, California.</s>A San Francisco jury has awarded $289 million to a former school groundsman who claimed Monsanto’s popular Roundup weed killer contributed to his terminal cancer.

In its decision on Friday, the state court jury found the agribusiness giant failed to adequately warn of the risks of using Roundup.

Dewayne Johnson’s lawyers said he sprayed Roundup and a similar product, Ranger Pro, in large quantities as a pest control manager at a San Francisco Bay Area school district.

He developed a rash and was 42 when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2014.

Monsanto’s lawyer, George Lombardi, said non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma takes years to develop, so Johnson’s cancer must have started before he worked for the district.

Dewayne Johnson, right, says Roundup weed killer contributed to his cancer (Josh Edelson/Pool Photo via AP, File)

The company has denied ties between glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, and cancer.

The lawsuit brought by Dewayne Johnson was the first to go to trial among hundreds filed in state and federal courts saying Roundup causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Jurors agreed the product contributed to Johnson’s cancer and the company should have provided a label warning of the potential health hazard.

Johnson’s lawyers sought and won $39 million in compensatory damages and $250 million of the $373 million they wanted in punitive damages.

“This jury found Monsanto acted with malice and oppression because they knew what they were doing was wrong and doing it with reckless disregard for human life,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a member of Johnson’s legal team.

“This should send a strong message to the boardroom of Monsanto.”

Monsanto says hundreds of studies have established that glyphosate is safe.

Spokesman Scott Partridge said the company would appeal, and said scientific studies and two government agencies had concluded that Roundup does not cause cancer.

“We are sympathetic to Mr Johnson and his family,” Mr Partridge said.

“We will appeal this decision and continue to vigorously defend this product, which has a 40-year history of safe use and continues to be a vital, effective, and safe tool for farmers and others.”

Johnson sprayed large quantities from a 50-gallon tank attached to a truck, and during gusty winds, the product would cover his face, said Brent Wisner, one of his lawyers.

Once, when a hose broke, the weed killer soaked his entire body.

Johnson read the label and even contacted the company after developing a rash but was never warned it could cause cancer, Wisner said.

“The simple fact is he is going to die. It’s just a matter of time,” Wisner told the jury in his opening statement last month.

The US Environmental Protection Agency says Roundup’s active ingredient is safe for people when used in accordance with label directions.

However, the France-based International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organisation, classified it as a “probable human carcinogen” in 2015, and California added glyphosate to its list of chemicals known to cause cancer.</s>San Francisco: A California jury ordered chemical giant Monsanto to pay nearly $290 million on Friday for failing to warn a dying groundskeeper that its weed killer Roundup might cause cancer. Jurors unanimously found that Monsanto — which vowed to appeal — acted with “malice” and that its weed killers Roundup and the professional grade version RangerPro contributed “substantially” to Dewayne Johnson’s terminal illness.

 Following eight weeks of trial proceedings, the San Francisco jury ordered Monsanto to pay $250 million in punitive damages along with compensatory damages and other costs, bringing the total figure to nearly $290 million.

 Johnson, a California groundskeeper diagnosed in 2014 with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma — a cancer that affects white blood cells — says he repeatedly used a professional form of Roundup while working at a school in Benicia, California.

 Johnson, who appeared to fight back sobs while the verdict was read, wept openly, as did some jurors, when he met with the panel afterward.

 The lawsuit built on 2015 findings by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the UN World Health Organization, which classified Roundup’s main ingredient glyphosate as a probable carcinogen, causing the state of California to follow suit.

 Monsanto Vice-President Scott Partridge was unimpressed with the results. “The jury got it wrong,” he told reporters outside the courthouse.

 “We are sympathetic to Mr Johnson and his family,” Monsanto said in a statement, but promised to appeal the ruling and “continue to vigorously defend this product, which has a 40-year history of safe use and continues to be a vital, effective and safe tool for farmers and others.”

 Johnson’s attorney Brent Wisner said the verdict “shows the evidence is overwhelming” that the product poses danger.

 “When you are right, it is really easy to win,” he said. Wisner called the ruling the “tip of the spear” of litigation likely to come.

 The lawsuit is the first to accuse the product of causing cancer, but observers say a Monsanto defeat likely opens the door to thousands of other claims against the company, which was recently acquired by Germany’s Bayer.

 “The jury sent a message to the Monsanto boardroom that they have to change the way they do business,” said Robert F Kennedy Jr — an environmental lawyer, son of the late US senator and a member of Johnson’s legal team.

 “It is the most widely used and most widely studied herbicide in the world,” Partridge said.

 Johnson’s team expressed confidence in the verdict, saying the judge in the case kept out a mountain of more evidence backing their position.

 “All the efforts by Monsanto to put their finger in the dike and hold back the science; the science is now too persuasive,” Kennedy said, pointing to “cascading” scientific evidence about the health dangers of Roundup.

 The judgement will stand even if Johnson succumbs to his cancer during appeals, according to his lawyers.

 “We will fight this to the last minute of the last day,” Wisner said. “We will do everything to make sure Mr Johnson and his family share in that award.”

 Roundup is Monsanto’s leading product.

 “The Johnson vs Monsanto verdict is a win for all of humanity and all life on earth,” said Zen Honeycutt, founding executive director of non-profit group Moms Across America.

 “The majority of our illnesses and losses to soil quality, water, wildlife and marine life are due to toxic chemicals, particularly Monsanto’s most widely used glyphosate herbicides like Roundup and Ranger Pro.”

 Despite its denials of any links between its products and ill health effects, Monsanto has already suffered hits to its reputation in light of the controversy. — AFP</s>A California man dying of cancer was awarded $289 million after a jury ruled that a popular weed killer product gave him cancer.

DeWayne Johnson, a groundskeeper at a San Francisco Bay Area school district, sprayed large quantities of the product, sold under the brand name Roundup, from a 50-gallon tank attached to a truck during gusty winds. He said the product would often cover his face, and one time, when a hose broke, his whole body was covered.

According to his attorneys, Johnson read the label and even contacted the company after developing a rash but was never warned it could cause cancer. In 2014, at the age of 42, he was told he had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

A spokesman for Monsanto, the company behind Roundup, said the agribusiness will appeal the ruling. Monsanto has denied a link between the active ingredient in Roundup — glyphosate — and cancer, saying hundreds of studies have established that glyphosate is safe.

“We are sympathetic to Mr. Johnson and his family," Monsanto spokesman Scott Partridge said. "We will appeal this decision and continue to vigorously defend this product, which has a 40-year history of safe use and continues to be a vital, effective and safe tool for farmers and others."

George Lombardi, an attorney for the company, also argues that Johnson's illness takes years to develop, so it must have started well before he began working at the school district.

Nevertheless, jurors in State Superior Court ruled in favor of Johnson, convinced that the product contributed to his cancer and that the company should have provided a label warning about the potential health hazard.

He was awarded $39 million in compensatory damages and $250 million in punitive damages.

The Environmental Protection Agency has said that Roundup’s active ingredient is safe for people when used in accordance with label directions, but the France-based International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, classified it as a "probable human carcinogen" in 2015. California added glyphosate to its list of chemicals known to cause cancer.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.</s>A jury in California has awarded $US289 million ($NZD439 million) to a former gardener who said he got terminal cancer from Roundup, a widely used weed killer made by US agro-chemical giant Monsanto.

The jury awarded $US250 million ($NZD380 million) in punitive damages and more than $US39 million ($NZD59 million) in compensatory damages to Dewayne Johnson who was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer at age 42 in 2014, according to news reports.

He is one of hundreds of cancer patients suing Monsanto, with Friday's development potentially setting a precedent for other cases against the company.

Johnson's case had been moved up to be heard ahead of others because he is dying.

Johnson blames Roundup for his suffering and accused the company - recently acquired by Germany's Bayer - of concealing the dangers of the weed killer. Monsanto vigorously rejects the allegations and says the herbicide glyphosate is safe.

In his job as a gardener he sprayed Roundup and another Monsanto product, Ranger Pro, across a San Francisco Bay Area school district, his attorneys said.

Last month Judge Vince Chhabria ruled against Monsanto's request for a dismissal. The company argued that the more than 400 plaintiffs couldn't prove that glyphosate, the controversial ingredient in the product Roundup, causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of cancer affecting white blood cells.

Chhabria called the decision "a very close question," but declined to grant Monsanto's motion for summary judgement. He also allowed the opinions of three expert witnesses to be admitted.

In addition to the individual lawsuits there is a class action suit in Chhabria's courtroom filed by farmers, gardeners and consumers.</s>A groundsman has been awarded $289m (£225m) in damages after a court ruled that a weedkiller caused cancer.

Dewayne Johnson, 48, was awarded the extraordinary sum after a California jury ruled on Friday that the Monsanto's 'Roundup' product resulted him to develop non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

A former pest control manager for a California county school system, Johnson, 46, applied the weed killer up to 30 times per year.

In court, doctors for the plaintiff claimed that the former school groundsman has just months to live.

"The simple fact is he is going to die. It's just a matter of time," his legal team told the jury in his opening statement last month.

Following the judgment, a clearly emotional Johson was seen smiling and hugging his lawyers.

Dewayne is the first of hundreds of claimants who say the weedkiller caused cancer.

Chemicals giant Monsanto, a unit of Bayer AG, faces more than 5,000 similar lawsuits across the United States.

Revealed: Weed killer chemical that could give you cancer - and may be in your garden shed right now

The jury at San Francisco's Superior Court of California deliberated for three days before finding that Monsanto had failed to warn Johnson and other consumers of the cancer risks posed by its weed killers.

It awarded $39 million in compensatory and $250 million in punitive damages.

This jury found Monsanto acted with malice and oppression because they knew what they were doing was wrong and doing it with reckless disregard for human life," said Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Johnson's lawyer.

"This should send a strong message to the boardroom of Monsanto."

Monsanto denies that glyphosate, the world's most widely used herbicide, causes cancer and says decades of scientific studies have shown the chemical to be safe for human use.

Johnson's case, filed in 2016, was fast-tracked for trial due to the severity of his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system that he alleges was caused by Roundup and Ranger Pro, another Monsanto glyphosate herbicide.

The World Health Organization's cancer arm in 2015 classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans."
A jury in the U.S. state of California awards $289 million to a man who claims that his terminal cancer was caused by Monsanto's glyphosate-containing weed killer.