Representatives of both farmers and farm workers in the UK have expressed concern after a cancer victim won a multi-million-dollar compensation claim against the makers of the weed killer, glyphosate-based Roundup.
Monsanto has been ordered by a Californian court to pay damages of $289 million to Dewayne Johnson, who claimed his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system, was caused by exposure to Roundup during his work as a school groundsman.
Monsanto, which has said it will appeal, says the weed killer is safe but the company is thought to be facing thousands more similar law suits in the United States, and concerns have been raised in this country about the implications of what has happened across the Atlantic.
The trade union, Unite, which has a section representing agricultural workers, told FarmingUK that it would be taking up the potential health issues with the British Government.
"Unite is extremely concerned about the evidence beginning to be unearthed about glyphosate, a substance which is incredibly widely used and which has residues in food, water, soil and air samples," said Unite national health and specialist adviser Rob Miguel.
Roundup is one of the most popular weed killers in use in this country, but Rob Miguel is worried about the potential harm to farm workers.
"The facts of the potential dangers of glyphosate need to be addressed very quickly and Unite will be raising our concerns with the Health and Safety Executive and DEFRA."
'Extraordinary verdict'
The NFU has also expressed alarm, but at the possible loss of a weed killer which it insists is safe to use.
Guy Smith, NFU deputy president said: “On the face of it we find the verdict extraordinary, given that independent regulatory bodies around the world, including the two main bodies in Europe – the European Chemicals Agency and the European Food Safety Authority – have reviewed all the evidence surrounding glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, and concluded it poses no risk when used correctly.
“Glyphosate reduces the need to use other herbicides and helps to protect soil and cut greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the need for ploughing,” he said.
However, a spokeswoman for Homebase told FarmingUK that the company was reviewing its range of weed killer products.
B&Q said it was reviewing its garden care and maintenance range, although it said this was not a direct reaction to events in the United States.
Thousands of cases
The compensation case involving Dewayne Johnson was fast-tracked for trial because his illness is terminal.
It was the first of possibly thousands of similar cases to come in the United States and was heard by a jury in San Francisco.
Dewayne Johnson claimed that exposure to Roundup he sprayed while working as a groundsman for the Benicia Unified School District caused him to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
His lawyers said that, after an eight-week trial, a jury found unanimously in his favour. It ordered the agrochemical giant to pay $39.2 million in compensatory damages and $250 million in punitive damages for failing to warn consumers that exposure to Roundup caused cancer.
The legal representatives said that Monsanto, which was recently bought by Bayer, was continuing to refuse to warn consumers of the dangers of Roundup, despite the world’s foremost authority on cancer - the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) - listing glyphosate as a probable carcinogen in 2015.
Monsanto insists that the weed killer is safe. Scott Partridge, vice president of Monsanto, said in a statement: "We are sympathetic to Mr. Johnson and his family.
"Today’s decision does not change the fact that more than 800 scientific studies and reviews – and conclusions by the US Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S.
"National Institutes of Health and regulatory authorities around the world – support the fact that glyphosate does not cause cancer, and did not cause Mr. Johnson’s cancer.
"We will appeal this decision and continue to vigorously defend this product, which has a 40-year history of safe use and continues to be a vital, effective, and safe tool for farmers and others.”
'Secret documents'
Dewayne Johnson's co-lead counsel, Brent Wisner said the court verdict was a result of newly revealed, confidential company documents.
“We were finally able to show the jury the secret, internal Monsanto documents proving that Monsanto has known for decades that glyphosate and specifically Roundup could cause cancer," Mr Wisner said.
“Despite the Environmental Protection Agency’s failure to require labelling, we are proud that an independent jury followed the evidence and used its voice to send a message to Monsanto that its years of deception regarding Roundup is over and that they should put consumer safety first over profits.”
The claimant's other co-lead counsel, David Dickens, said the documents revealed that a scientific advisor hired by Monsanto told the company that past testing for Roundup was insufficient because glyphosate was tested in isolation without the other chemical ingredients that make up the Roundup formulation.
“Many of these confidential Monsanto documents were unsealed for the first time,” he said.
“They show that Monsanto knew that its testing was insufficient and that there was a synergistic effect when glyphosate is combined with surfactants which help the glyphosate penetrate both plant and animal cell walls.”
A team of lawyers from three law firms represented Dewayne Johnson. These firms represent thousands of Roundup cancer plaintiffs across the United States.
They say that Monsanto now faces more than 4,000 Roundup cancer cases nationwide and that the number is growing. The next Roundup cancer trial against Monsanto is due in October in St. Louis, Missouri. Dates for other cases should be announced in the next couple of months.
