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SAN FRANCISCO โ A juryโs $289 million award to a former school groundskeeper who said Monsantoโs Roundup left him dying of cancer will bolster thousands of pending cases and open the door for countless people who blame their suffering on the weed killer, the manโs lawyers said.
โIโm glad to be here to be able to help in a cause thatโs way bigger than me,โ Dewayne Johnson said at a news conference Friday after the verdict was announced.
Johnson, 46, alleges that heavy contact with the herbicide caused his non-Hodgkinโs lymphoma. The state Superior Court jury agreed that Roundup contributed to Johnsonโs cancer and Monsanto should have provided a label warning of the potential health hazard.
Johnson thanked jurors โfrom the bottom of my heartโ for their work, along with his lawyers and his family.
Johnsonโs attorneys sought and won $39 million in compensatory damages and $250 million of the $373 million they wanted in punitive damages.
First Case By Cancer Patient to Reach Trial vs. Monsanto
His was the first case filed by a cancer patient against the agribusiness giant to reach trial. It was expedited because court filings indicated that Johnson was dying. His victory may set the precedent for many others.
โA unanimous jury in San Francisco has told Monsanto: โEnough. You did something wrong and now you have to pay,'โ said Brent Wisner, Johnsonโs lead trial lawyer. โThereโs 4,000 other cases filed around the United States and there are countless thousand other people out there who are suffering from cancer because Monsanto didnโt give them a choice โฆ We now have a way forward.โ

Monsanto Will Appeal Verdict
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.
โWe are sympathetic to Mr. Johnson and his family,โ Partridge said. โWe 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.โ
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 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-Hodgkinโs lymphoma in 2014.
โThe simple fact is he is going to die. Itโs just a matter of time,โ Wisner told the jury in his opening statement last month.
Monsanto Attorney Says Johnsonโs Lymphoma Began Years Ago
But George Lombardi, an attorney for Monsanto, said non-Hodgkinโs lymphoma takes years to develop, so Johnsonโs cancer must have started well before he began working at the school district.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says Roundupโs 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 โprobable human carcinogenโ in 2015. California added glyphosate to its list of chemicals known to cause cancer.
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