Photo by Kenny Eliason on UnsplashOur tort lawyers at Buttafuoco & Associates will be watching several mass tort cases closely in 2023. Last month on the blog, we discussed recent cases involving the potentially harmful effects of Tylenol use during pregnancy; in this article, we’ll cover recent legal actions surrounding Roundup, a common weed killer that has been linked to cancer in recent years. I’ll discuss the toxic effects of glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) and how mass tort legal actions are fighting the corporate giant.
Is Glyphosate a Toxic Substance?
Glyphosate is a common herbicide that you may have used in the past and you can still find in store shelves, so news of it being potentially carcinogenic is especially concerning to New York cancer mass tort attorneys.
In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as a “probable carcinogen.” Furthermore, a 2021 study found strong evidence that the herbicide leads to an increased risk of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. However, other regulatory agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Pesticide Information Center, have concluded that glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.
How did the EPA and IARC reach such different conclusions? In one study published in Environmental Sciences Europe, researchers evaluated each agency’s methodologies to understand the discrepancy. The authors of the study concluded that the EPA was primarily concerned with typical usage by the general population; what they failed to consider, though, was the increased exposure in an occupational setting. Agricultural workers, the plaintiffs in these Monsanto Roundup lawsuits, experience much higher exposure to glyphosate than the average person using Roundup in non-occupational settings, such as gardening, or exposure through food.
What this means to you is that depending on how frequently you have been exposed to Roundup, your chances of developing cancer could vary. If you have been heavily exposed in an occupational setting and have been diagnosed with cancer, you may have a case.
Major Roundup Legal Actions
Our Roundup cancer lawyer serving New York believes that the most important legal precedent involving Roundup is the case of Johnson v. Monsanto Co. In this case, the former groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson sued Monsanto (the manufacturers of Roundup), claiming that his exposure to Roundup caused him to develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and in 2018, a jury awarded Johnson $289 million in damages. Though the award was later reduced to $78 million, this case set a precedent, as it was the first time a jury concluded that glyphosate caused cancer.
More recently, Bayer, who acquired Monsanto in 2018, agreed to pay out $10 billion to settle thousands of claims that Roundup caused plaintiffs’ cancer, making it among the largest civil settlements in U.S. history. They have also agreed to pull Roundup from shelves and stop selling it for residential purposes in 2023.
However, Bayer maintains that glyphosate is safe and that they committed no wrongdoing.
Do you have a Roundup Mass Tort Cancer Claim?
Despite these controversies, glyphosate continues to be one of the most widely used herbicides in the world, and Bayer continues to market Roundup without warning labels. If you were an agricultural worker, or worked in any other setting where you may have sustained occupational exposure to Roundup, you may have a Roundup lawsuit.
To learn more, get in touch with Buttafuoco & Associates to consult with an experienced Roundup cancer attorney in New York.
Call 1-800-NOW-HURT today to get the compensation you deserve.
