ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A St. Louis County jury sided with Bayer-owned Monsanto in the first multi-plaintiff trial over claims that its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer.
The verdict that the German company should not be held liable came Thursday afternoon and is the fifth consecutive trial in which Bayer AG (OTCMKTS: BAYRY) prevailed.
“While we have great sympathy for the plaintiffs in this case, the jury has weighed the evidence from both sides in this case and concluded that Roundup is not responsible for their injuries,” a Bayer spokesperson said. “We continue to stand behind the safety of Roundup and will confidently defend the safety of our product as well as our good faith actions in any future litigation.”
The trial, which began Aug. 3, centered around whether the chemical used in Roundup, glyphosate, causes cancer. Bayer is the successor to Monsanto, with its crop science headquarters in St. Louis.
Attorney Majed Nachawati of the Fears Nachawati Law Firm, who represented the plaintiffs with the St. Louis firm of Carey Danis & Lowe, told Courtroom View Network that the firm would continue to pursue Roundup-related lawsuits against Bayer-owned Monsanto.
“This trial exposed a pattern by Monsanto over many decades to discount and minimize known links between Roundup and non-Hodgkin lymphoma,” Nachawati said. “Our fight continues on behalf of the many thousands of people who have suffered as a result of this company’s failure to warn.”
The attorneys who represented the three plaintiffs in their 60s and 70s accused Monsanto of withholding information about glyphosate causing cancer.
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