US Judge Upholds Verdict Against Monsanto's Cancer-Giving Weedkiller

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd October, 2018) A Californian judge upheld a verdict against biotech giant Monsanto, blaming its popular weedkiller for cancer in a dying US worker, but slashed damages to double digits from $289 million.

"If the Plaintiff consents to a remittitur of the award of punitive damages to equal the amount of the compensatory damages award, Monsanto's Motion for New Trial will be denied," she ruled on Monday.

Monsanto, which was acquired this year by German pharma conglomerate Bayer, appealed August's decision by a jury in San Francisco, arguing there was not enough evidence.

Superior Court Judge Suzanne Bolanos said at that time that Monsanto had acted with malice or fraud and should be punished, opening the door to thousands of potential cases from US plaintiffs.

The 46-year-old plaintiff, DeWayne Johnson, came in contact with Roundup for years as a school groundkeeper, using up hundreds of gallons at a time, his lawyer said previously.

He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2014, a type of cancer that affects white blood cells. A year later, the World Health Organization concluded that glyphosate was probably carcinogenic.