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posted by martyb on Friday June 22 2018, @11:05PM   Printer-friendly
from the something-that-kills-something-might-be-bad-for-you dept.

In the first trial of its kind, a Californian dying of cancer is suing US agrochemical giant Monsanto, claiming its popular herbicide Roundup caused his disease—a case that could have sweeping ramifications.

The stakes are high for Monsanto, which could face massive losses should it have to pay out damages over the product, whose main ingredient is glyphosate, a substance which some say is dangerously carcinogenic.

Dewayne Johnson, a 46-year-old father of two, says he is sick because of contact with Roundup, which he used for two years from 2012 as a groundskeeper for the Benicia school district near San Francisco, his lawyer Timothy Litzenburg told AFP.

Thousands of lawsuits targeting Monsanto are currently proceeding through the US court system, according to American media.

Litzenburg says he represents hundreds of people who also say they are victims of glyphosate.

Whether the substance causes cancer has been the source of endless debate among government regulators, health experts and lawyers.

"A major part of that job was spraying Roundup or Ranger Pro (a similar Monsanto product)... He sprayed it 20 to 40 times per year, sometimes hundreds of gallons at a time on the school properties," Litzenburg said.

In 2014, Johnson was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer that affects white blood cells. Two years later, and no longer able to work, he filed suit against Monsanto, which he accuses of hiding its product's dangers.

"His case has been expedited because he currently has only a few months to live," his lawyer said.

Wikipedia entry on glyphosate.


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  • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday June 23 2018, @02:17AM (1 child)

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Saturday June 23 2018, @02:17AM (#697081) Homepage Journal

    There's no such animal as an unbiased scientist, believe me. When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do.

    And don't worry, we're keeping RoundUp. Because if we lose that one it'll be a DISASTER for our Country. And for our great great farmers. Because RoundUp stops the weeds. And without it we'd have to send our beautiful American workers into the fields. Or our robots. But our workers are very busy right now -- we have the lowest unemployment rate in 18 years. And the lowest African American unemployment since the Civil War. We don't have enough workers. And robots, very expensive. The Dems want open borders, they want foreign workers to be able to just walk into our Country. They want Mexicans and everyone else picking our fruits & vegetables, pulling weeds, touching our food. And making us very sick (Romaine lettuce). No. The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility. It won't be. If you look at what's happening in Europe, if you look at what's happening in other places, we can't allow that to happen to the United States. Not on my watch!

    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Saturday June 23 2018, @02:58AM

    by captain normal (2205) on Saturday June 23 2018, @02:58AM (#697096)

    Wow you seem to have learned a few new words in the last couple of days, and have improved your vocabulary!! Way to go! Keep it up!

    --
    The Musk/Trump interview appears to have been hacked, but not a DDOS hack...more like A Distributed Denial of Reality.