Bayer has officially lodged an appeal against the decision by a jury in the United States to award a terminally ill former groundskeeper $US298 million in damages after they found exposure to the pesticide Roundup had caused his cancer.
The case sparked a media storm when a San Francisco jury ruled in August in favour of 46-year-old Dewayne Johnson, who is dying of non-Hoggkin’s lymphoma.
Bayer, whose merger with the maker of Roundup, Monsanto, was only finalised last month, has now called for the verdict to be overturned, the damages to be set aside or at least modified or a new trial to be ordered.
“While we are sympathetic to Mr Johnson and his family, glyphosate is not responsible for his illness, and the verdict in this case should be reversed or set aside,” a statement released by Bayer reads.
“The plaintiff failed to prove at trial that glyphosate caused his cancer, and his own counsel and experts admitted that the epidemiological evidence – the best and most direct evidence on human causation – fell well below the causation standard required under California law.”
The case has sparked fears among the makers of glyphosate and farm lobby groups that it could be used as precedent for other legal challenges to the widely used pesticide.
It is believed there could be as many as 5000 lawsuits currently filed throughout the US against Monsanto due to links between Roundup and cancer.
