Bayer wins trial against mother of boy with cancer

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Weedkiller Roundup (archive image)

Photo: Haven Daley / DPA

The mother of a boy suffering from cancer lost a lawsuit against Bayer subsidiary Monsanto in California.

As the lawyers of the plaintiff Destiny Clark announced on Tuesday, there was, from the jury's point of view, no evidence of a connection between the glyphosate-containing herbicide Roundup and the illness of the boy Ezra Clark.

In her lawsuit filed in a Los Angeles court in mid-September, the mother blamed Monsanto for the fact that her son had what is known as Burkitt's lymphoma.

According to the complaint, the child was exposed to the weed killer when the mother sprayed it on her property.

The boy was only four years old when he was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma in 2016.

It is one of the fastest growing types of tumors.

A spokesman for Bayer said the company has "deep compassion for Ezra Clark and his family."

However, the jury had "carefully discarded the scientific evidence on this case" and came to the conclusion "that glyphosate is not the cause of his disease."

The plaintiff's lawyers said it was a "very unusual case."

The jury was only asked whether the boy's cancer was due to his exposure to Roundup.

Evidence of Monsanto's behavior was not allowed.

Maybe they would appeal.

Again and again legal dispute over Roundup

Monsanto is already facing numerous lawsuits over Roundup in the USA, in which the herbicide is named as a cause of cancer.

The US company was bought by Bayer in 2018.

The Leverkusen chemical company also took over Monsanto's legal problems.

Bayer always emphasizes that Roundup is safe when used properly and refers to corresponding assessments by the US environmental protection agency EPA and the supervisory authorities in the EU and Germany.

By contrast, the International Agency for Cancer Research, which is part of the World Health Organization (WHO), stated in 2015 that glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic in humans”.

In May, Bayer withdrew from a settlement proceeding with the aim of reaching a billion-dollar settlement with tens of thousands of plaintiffs.

Instead, the group developed a five-point plan to counter future legal risks to Roundup.

jok / AFP