Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Over Roundup Exposure

According to allegations raised in a recently filed wrongful death lawsuit, exposure to Roundup caused non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL) for a California man, indicating that Monsanto failed to adequately warn about the risks associated with their popular weed killer. 

The complaint (PDF) was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on November 18, by the wife and children of Harley Wooten, who died from non-Hodgkins lymphoma on November 21, 2014, after spraying Roundup on a regular basis for years.

Wooten’s surviving wife, Karen Wooten, and his sons, Harley Wooten III and Timothy Wooten, allege that their father would have taken greater precautions or used a different product if Monsanto had properly informed consumers and the medical community that the glyphosate-based herbicide may increase the risk of cancer.

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While the weedkiller has been promoted by Monsanto as harmless, and is commonly found in garden centers throughout the United States, growing research suggests that Roundup may be a human carcinogen.

In March 2015, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) linked side effects of Roundup to an increased risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, classifying glyphosate as a likely cancer-causing agent.

However, the lawsuit notes that there was scientific evidence of the link between Roundup and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma decades earlier. The family alleges that Monsanto knew or should have known about the problem as early as 1985, when investigators in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxicology department determined that glyphosate was a possible carcinogen.

“The original Roundup, containing the active ingredient glyphosate, was introduced in 1974. Today, glyphosate products are among the world’s most widely used herbicides,” the lawsuit notes. “For nearly 40 years, consumers, farmers, and the public have used Roundup, unaware of its carcinogenic properties.”

The case will join a growing number of Roundup non-Hodgkins lymphoma lawsuits filed throughout the United States, often involving farmers, landscapers or other agricultural workers regularly expose to large amounts of the weedkiller.

Given similar questions of fact and law raised in lawsuits filed through the federal court system, the Roundup cases have been centralized before U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in the Northern District of California, for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

The Wootens’ complaint will be transferred into this federal multidistrict litigation (MDL), where it is expected that a small group of representative claims will be prepared for early trial dates to help gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that is likely to be offered throughout the litigation.

While the outcomes of these early trial dates will not binding on other claims, they may help facilitate Roundup settlements with Monsanto without the need for hundreds of individual cases to go before juries nationwide.

Image Credit: Photo Courtesy of Mike Mozart via Flickr Creative Commons

3 Comments

  • KarlaJanuary 21, 2017 at 2:05 am

    My husband has Mantle Cell Lymphoma. Diagnosed at 58 years old. Doctors do not know what caused it. Not sure if it was the Roundup we used sometimes in the yard or not, years ago. He had a Stem Cell Transplant also. He was doing good until it came back big time. We are now waiting to enter a clinical study for a T Cell Transplant that has promising results.

  • MarieDecember 7, 2016 at 6:43 pm

    My husband used Round Up on our farm and in fence lines. He also used it to spray weeds around our house. My daughter was diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma at the age of 27. She had chemotherapy and a Stem Cell Transplant. She passed away 8 days past her 28th birthday. She left behind her husband and 2 year old son. The doctors could not tell us how or why she had this dreadful disease th[Show More]My husband used Round Up on our farm and in fence lines. He also used it to spray weeds around our house. My daughter was diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma at the age of 27. She had chemotherapy and a Stem Cell Transplant. She passed away 8 days past her 28th birthday. She left behind her husband and 2 year old son. The doctors could not tell us how or why she had this dreadful disease that cut her life so short.

  • BrendaDecember 2, 2016 at 12:41 pm

    I was diagnosed with Follicular Lymphoma a non hodgkins lymphoma. I use to spray the back yard with round up and still have some in the utility. Could thid be why I had cancer? The doctors told me they did not know what causes this cancer. I am in tremission but told It would vome back since it is not curable.

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