Roundup Cancer Attorney for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Lawsuits

In recent years, researchers found a correlation between Roundup and the development of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, an often fatal disease of the immune system.

Researchers have correlated the use of Roundup in the suffocation of human cells under laboratory conditions. A report released by Scientific American found that "one of Roundup's inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental, and umbilical cord cells."

For years, Monsanto, the manufacturer of Roundup, states that the product's active ingredient glyphosate is safe. However, a study released in November 2017 by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute showed a trend of using the product and the development of acute myeloid leukemia.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (under the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed the dangers of products containing glyphosate, including Roundup, as a "probable cause of cancer in humans."

Yes, in theory, anyone who has developed Hodgkin's lymphoma after using Roundup might have a case against the manufacturer.

The number of pending cases against Bayer is alarming. Some studies have shown an increase in the chance of developing Hodgkin's lymphoma with even limited exposure to Roundup.

If you have non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and you have used Roundup in the past, we can evaluate your case at no charge. Contact us now. We will confidentially discuss your case with you and help you decide what your next steps should be.

Yes, several legal cases involving Roundup have gone to trial and verdicts have been rendered in favor of the plaintiffs. There are several more lawsuits on the docket set for trial in 2020. Below are summaries of recent Roundup cancer verdicts.

In June 2020, Monsanto, a subsidiary of the German pharmaceutical and chemical maker Bayer, agreed to resolve tens of thousands of Roundup-injury claims for more than $10 billion. However, the agreement allows the company to continue selling their product without adding any safety warning labels to alert consumers of the toxic, carcinogenic effects.

The settlement included twenty-five law firms involved in the complex negotiations. Groundskeepers and homeowners filed many of the initial cases against the company. Different plaintiffs received varying payments ranging from $5000-$250,000.

• Dewayne Johnson: $289 million (California)

In August of 2018, a jury awarded $289 million to Dewayne Johnson, a groundskeeper with Stage IV non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Mr. Johnson used Roundup extensively throughout his career as a school groundskeeper for a San Francisco area school district.

He also had two accidents where he was soaked with the weed killer. Two years after the first incident, he was diagnosed with NHL. At the time of trial, lesions covered eighty percent of his body.

The jury unanimously found that Monsanto failed to warn about the carcinogenic dangers of Roundup and awarded $39 million in compensatory damages and $250 million in punitive damages in U.S. District Court, under Judge Vince Chhabria. The federal judge handling the lawsuit later lowered the punitive damage award to $78 million. Both sides have appealed.

• Edward Hardeman: $80 million (California)

In March of 2019, a jury awarded Edward Hardeman more than $80 million in damages after determining that his Roundup exposure caused him to develop non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Seventy-year-old Hardeman used Roundup to control weeds and poison oak on his property for 26 years.

In 2015, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and, when the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) declared glyphosate a probable carcinogen, Hardeman sued Monsanto.

• $2 Billion (Oakland, CA)

Jurors recently hearing evidence in a Roundup lawsuit awarded a California couple, Alva and Alberta Pilliod, more than $2 billion in damages. The Pilliods had used Roundup on their property for decades. In 2011, Alva was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. In 2015, Alberta was diagnosed with the same disease.

The Pilliod's lawyers argued that a billion-dollar verdict would send a message to Monsanto, basing the requested punitive damages $1 billion for each of the Pilliods - on Monsanto's 2017 profit from Roundup of $892 million.

Their attorneys also argued that homeowners are even more at risk from using Roundup because they have never been warned to wear gloves, protective clothing, or masks while using the product.

There are currently more than 18,000 pending lawsuits involving Roundup weed killer. These fall into two general categories: individual lawsuits and class action lawsuits. Most of these cases are part of federal multidistrict litigation in California, a state consolidated proceeding in Alameda Superior Court, and a Missouri state complex proceeding in St. Louis County Court.

Many mass torts end up consolidated in a few locations for efficiency and to comply with federal jurisdictional and civil procedure rules.

Individual Claims

The individual claims filed against Monsanto are not part of the class-action lawsuit but are being handled separately. The claimants are seeking remedies for injuries, such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma, caused by Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, as well as a failure to warn of the dangers of the chemical.

Many of these have been consolidated in the Alameda Superior Court in California, the St. Louis County Court in Missouri, and the federal MDL Court in California. Some of the personal injury and wrongful death cases have jury trials set for 2020.

Class Action Lawsuits

Many class-action lawsuits against Monsanto are pending in several states. These claims are related to false and misleading information on the Roundup label and don't involve allegations of personal injury or wrongful death.

Many of the class action lawsuits revolve around Monsanto's continued insistence that Roundup targets an enzyme found in plants and does not affect people or pets. The lawsuits allege that glyphosate can target bacteria in mammals, including humans.

The individual cases are not "class action" lawsuits. However, in 2016, a federal judiciary panel created a Roundup MDL (multi-district litigation), allowing the plaintiffs' attorneys to work together to develop the facts and science behind the glyphosate claims.

Early in 2019, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria appointed attorney Kenneth Feinberg to begin mediating Roundup settlement discussions between Monsanto and the plaintiffs in the federal MDL court.

Mr. Feinberg has facilitated discussions in many high stakes' claims, including the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal, the BP Deep Water Horizon oil spill, and the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund.

The time requirement (statute of limitations) to file a Roundup lawsuit will depend on where you live and when you received a diagnosis of cancer or Hodgkin's Lymphoma. If you or a family member has been diagnosed with either condition, you should speak to a Roundup weed killer lawyer as soon as feasible so you can preserve your legal rights for compensatory damages by filing a lawsuit.

Failure to comply with the applicable statute of limitations will forever bar your legal rights for recovery. If your family member died from complications, you might also have grounds to file a wrongful death lawsuit.

Yes, on June 24, 2020, German pharmaceutical and chemical maker Bayer agreed to a ten billion-dollar settlement to resolve approximately 19,000 cases involving Roundup, manufactured by their subsidiary Monsanto. Some of these plaintiffs have filed a claim against the company after developing cancer.

This agreement came just a few years after Bayer had agreed to offer $8 billion to settle approximately 18,000 pending cases, equating to roughly $450,000 per plaintiff. The agreement negotiated between Monsanto and over two dozen law firms nationwide is one of the largest settlements agreed to under civil litigation in the United States.

As more news of jury awards and settlements comes forward, Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC will update this webpage.

Roundup weed killer is a danger to people. There are numerous long-term effects, including Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

After hearing so much about Roundup in the news, you may be wondering about the substance behind all of the claims. So, what is the biochemical basis for weed killer cancer claims, and what does the science say?

Roundup suppresses the ability of plants to produce essential amino acids and proteins needed for growth. Since all plants need these proteins to live, Roundup kills all plants, not just weeds.

The chemical is nearly ubiquitous. Landscapers and farmers use Roundup's hazardous chemicals on residential lawns and gardens, public parks, schoolyards, right-of-way areas, and crops. Unfortunately, this widespread use has exposed farmworkers to this chemical who have been getting sick for years.

Crops genetically engineered to be immune to Roundup are increasing the levels of glyphosate found in streams, lakes, and ditches. The chemical is also now found in much of our food, which is, in turn, building up in our bodies.

Glyphosate as a Carcinogen

Exposure to glyphosate increases the risk for developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system that severely impacts the body's immune system. World Health Organizations agree.

In 2015, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said that glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup, is probably a human carcinogen and that exposure may increase the risk of contracting non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Environmental Exposure

Once Monsanto debuted its Roundup Ready seeds in the 1990s, the product became much more useful to the agricultural industry. Farmers could now spray the weed killer on all their fields, killing weeds without harming crops.

But over time, weeds developed a resistance to glyphosate, requiring more and more of the herbicide to kill the weeds. Eventually, "superweeds" immune to Roundup developed.

Now, many farmers are back to mixing multiple chemicals, including glyphosate, to kill the weeds in their fields. The increased use of the hazardous concoctions results in more chemical runoff of glass to fade and other dangerous toxins into ditches, streams, lakes, and eventually our water supply.

A report based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture data indicates that farmers are now using 383 million pounds more pesticides than they would have if Roundup had never been developed.

Exposure Through Food

People are now facing unprecedented levels of glyphosate in their foods. As Roundup use has dramatically increased, so has the level of the herbicide found in our food supply.

In 2019, scientific studies from the Environmental Working Group researching twenty-one oat-based cereal and snack products revealed that all but four products contained measurable amounts of glyphosate higher than the EWG considers safe for children.

Alarmingly, it seems that children may be at risk for glyphosate exposure through food at higher rates than adults. In July of 2019, CBS News reported on a study measuring glyphosate levels found in adults and their children.

While Bayer AG, which now owns Monsanto, refuses to acknowledge the dangers of glyphosate, the company recently announced that it will be investing more than $5 billion to develop glyphosate alternatives and recently paid over $10 million to settle tens of thousands of Roundup-associated injury claims.

In the meantime, people continue to be exposed to Roundup and glyphosate through the environment and the food we eat. If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with cancer after using Roundup, contact us for a free consultation.

As a broad-spectrum herbicide, Roundup initially had limited application in agriculture because it could only be sprayed in targeted areas where it would not harm crops. Once Monsanto rolled out its genetically modified "Roundup Ready" seeds, this changed for crops like soybeans, corn, and cotton.

These crops were now genetically manipulated to be immune to Roundup and glyphosate. The alterations meant that farmers could now spray Roundup on their entire field, killing all the weeds and leaving the cash crops unharmed.

With the development of Roundup Ready seeds, the use of glyphosate agriculturally surged. The use of Roundup in agriculture increased dramatically from eleven million pounds in 1982 to 300 million pounds by 2012.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, "Biotech crops [heave] helped make glyphosate the most widely used weed killer in the world, accounting for about $5 billion in annual sales, or roughly one-fifth of the entire herbicide market."

Roundup is predominantly used in agriculture, which is the biggest consumer of Roundup and glyphosate in the United States. Throughout America, the state of Illinois maintains the highest agricultural use of glyphosate use in the country, with more than 11,000 kilograms of the herbicide sprayed across in Illinois farms in 2016.

Iowa ranks second in the use of Roundup at 10,915,748 kg., followed by Nebraska at 9,915,178 kg., Kansas at 8,864,771 kg., and North Dakota at 8,860,949 kg.

According to U.S. Geological Survey, high-end estimates for glyphosate use in 2016, Rhode Island has the smallest glyphosate consumption, not surprising for the smallest state, with only 750 kg of glyphosate used in 2016. Chart of Glyphosate Use in the Continental U.S. States from Highest to Lowest include:

• Illinois
• Iowa
• Nebraska
• Kansas
• North Dakota
• Minnesota
• South Dakota
• Texas
• Indiana
• Missouri
• Ohio
• Montana
• California
• Arkansas
• Wisconsin
• Michigan
• Colorado
• Kentucky
• Tennessee
• North Carolina
• Louisiana
• Mississippi
• Oklahoma
• Florida
• Georgia
• Washington
• Pennsylvania
• Virginia
• Alabama
• Idaho
• South Carolina
• Maryland
• New York
• Oregon
• Arizona
• New Mexico
• Wyoming
• Delaware
• Utah
• New Jersey
• West Virginia
• Vermont
• Nevada
• Connecticut
• Maine
• Massachusetts
• New Hampshire
• Rhode Island

Roundup has been on the market since 1974. For decades, Roundup products were believed to be safe because its active ingredient, glyphosate, works on a plant enzyme that mammals, including humans, don't possess.

However, research in the last two decades indicates that glyphosate isn't as benign as we once thought. In 2015, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer noted that glyphosate is probably carcinogenic to humans.

The cancer warning stated that exposure might lead to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma as scientific evidence continues to mount. The people most at risk for harmful exposure to Roundup and glyphosate are agricultural workers, herbicide applicators, landscapers, farmworkers, groundskeepers, and farmers.

The historical use of Roundup is extensive. Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, was first patented in the United States in 1961 by the Stauffer Chemical Company as a chelating and descaling agent.

Descaling agents bind to calcium, magnesium, and heavy metals, making them water-soluble and easily removed. As a result, glyphosate was initially used to clean out calcium and mineral deposits in the pipes and boilers of hot water systems.

In 1970, Monsanto scientist John Franz discovered that glyphosate was also an effective herbicide or weed killer. Monsanto brought glyphosate to the industrial herbicide market in 1974 as Monsanto's Roundup weed killer.

Roundup was marketed as an easy-to-use, broad-spectrum herbicide. It was sold to consumers in a concentrate, which is mixed with water and then applied with a garden sprayer.

However, because Roundup is a broad-spectrum weed killer, it will kill all plants, not just weeds. As a result, Roundup had to be applied in targeted areas to keep other plants safe.