A jury in San Francisco (CA) on Friday 10 August, held agrochemical giant Monsanto to pay compensation to a sick cancer Divano Johnson in the amount of $ million to 289.2 Taste phenomenal victory, unfortunately, not too sweet: a 46-year-old Divan, a former school gardener, dies.
#Monsantotrial verdict has been reached in The “Lee” Johnson vs. Monsanto, Roundup cancer trial. Stay tuned as we await the reading of the verdict pic.twitter.com/xmxyLpzTgZ
— Baum Hedlund Law (@baumhedlund) August 10, 2018
Johnson has filed a lawsuit against Monsanto, claiming that the herbicide based on glyphosate Roundup provoked his development of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (Non-Hodgkin»s Lymphoma — NHL). Working as a school gardener, Johnson has long been used for weed control Roundup with another product of the Corporation — the Ranger Pro. Lymphoma which he was diagnosed in 2014 at the age of 42 years.
The jury heard the case of Johnson V. Monsanto nearly three days and found that the Corporation did not warn the man and other victims on the risks associated with the use of glyphosate. As noted by one of the members of the legal team of Johnson, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Monsanto had «acted with malice» and «reckless disregard for human life.» Based on all the facts presented, the court ordered the agrochemical giant to pay Johnson about $ 250 million fine and $ 39.2 million of compensation.
Watch Dewayne Lee Johnson and his trial team press conference live via Facebook Live https://t.co/L2z8jQikqM or YouTube https://t.co/xnwIOGy11A in 10 minutes at 5:30 Pacific pic.twitter.com/wIkvgcGgjz
— Baum Hedlund Law (@baumhedlund) August 11, 2018
Monsanto on similar lawsuits filed about a hundred cancer patients. The case of Johnson is considered the first because of his condition. In Monsanto, in turn, vehemently denied the connection between with glyphosate and cancer, citing studies that indicate the safety of the active ingredient Roundup.
«We sympathize with Mr. Johnson and his family», said the Vice-President of the Corporation Scott partridge after the verdict, adding that there were about «800 of studies and surveys, confirming the fact that glyphosate does not cause cancer and do not cause disease in Mr Johnson». Therefore, the Corporation plans to appeal Friday’s sentence.
Meanwhile, glyphosate has been classified as a probable human carcinogen three years ago, the International Agency for research on cancer (a division of who).
