A federal appeals court reopened a lawsuit filed by a Georgian who claims that Roundup, a product used to kill weeds, has led to his 2016 diagnosis of cancer.
Bayer AG bought Roundup, a controversial product that many believe is linked with other cancer diagnoses in America, from Monsanto, in 2018.
John Carson, a Georgia resident, said Roundup was the best product he’d ever used. He had used Roundup for over 30 years. led to his being diagnosed with malignant fibrous histiocytoma. He claims that the packaging should have contained a warning label about the dangers of cancer.
Bayer AG claims this warning is inconsistent in meaning with a label that has been approved by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The company also claimed that federal law protected them from claims arising in state courts, where Carson had brought his lawsuit.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Montgomery, Alabama, ruled against Bayer AG this week, saying that Carons’s lawsuit could proceed forward. A similar ruling was issued for another person who claimed Roundup caused their cancer diagnosis at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Bayer AG has already agreed that it will pay billions to people who claim that they were exposed to Roundup and developed cancer. But many other claims are being ignored. Particularly the claims of migrant farmers who have been exposed for decades to the herbicide.
The EPA previously said in 2020 that glyphosate, a main ingredient in Roundup, isn’t “likely” to cause cancer in humans. However, a different appeals court ruled last monthThis question must be reexamined by the agency to determine if the chemical causes cancer.
Carson’s win in the 11th Circuit Court comes in the same week that a new study from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a project of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released findings suggesting the vast majority of Americans have been exposed to glyphosate.
The chemical was detected in 80 percent (of the 2,310) samples. To determine the extent of glyphosate exposure in the U.S. population, the study included both children and adults.
“Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the country, yet until now we had very little data on exposure,” said Alexis TemkinThe Environmental Working Group, an environmental advocacy nonprofit, has a toxicologist named. “Children in the U.S. are regularly exposed to this cancer-causing weedkiller through the food they eat virtually every day.”
