A Georgia jury verdict ordering Bayer AG to pay over $2 billion to a man suffering from cancer he blamed on his use of Roundup weedkiller comes as that state’s governor weighs whether to sign into law a measure that would effectively bar such cases from going to trial in the future. Friday’s verdict rocked Bayer investors, driving down the German company’s shares more than 8% on Monday. The jury found that Bayer, which bought Roundup maker Monsanto in 2018, failed to properly warn users of years of scientific evidence that exposure to Roundup could cause cancer, awarding plaintiff John Barnes $2 billion in punitive damages and $65 million in compensatory damages. Barnes developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) after using Roundup to spray weeds around his home in Dalton, Georgia, from 1999 to 2019, purchasing the herbicide from Home Depot stores. He was diagnosed with NHL in 2020 and has endured multiple rounds of treatment and one recurrence of the disease, though he currently is in remission, according to his lawyers. He is one of more than 100,000 people in the US who have filed lawsuits alleging they developed cancer due to use of Monsanto’s weedkillers. The New Lede

 

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