In a trial that could serve as a bellwether for other cases, a federal court jury decided unanimously that a Monsanto herbicide was a substantial factor in causing cancer in Edwin Hardeman, of Santa Rosa, Calif, reported the Guardian. In the next phase of the trial, the jury will weigh liability and whether to award damages against Monsanto.
Monsanto faces more than 9,000 similar lawsuits in U.S. courts. A jury in California state courts ruled last August that Roundup weedkiller caused Dewayne Johnson, a school groundskeeper, to develop terminal cancer.
Hardeman’s trial was more limited in scope, said the Guardian. U.S. federal judge Vince Chhabria restricted his attorneys to discussing whether exposure to Roundup caused his cancer, although the attorneys tried to bring the U.S. regulatory system and Monsanto’s promotion of its product into the courtroom. Monsanto says the chemical is safe. Hardeman, 70, said he used Roundup for nearly three decades to control weeds and poison oak on his properties and once got it on his skin.