Large B-Cell Lymphoma Lawsuit Filed Over Roundup Exposure Risks

A Nebraska man indicates that he developed large B-cell lymphoma from Roundup exposure, alleging that Monsanto failed to warn consumers that their popular weedkiller may increase the risk of various forms of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in recently filed product liability lawsuit.

Daniel Kowal filed a complaint (PDF) in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware on November 23, indicating that he used Roundup for years, unaware that it carried a potential cancer risk, due to Monsanto’s marketing of the weed killer as “safer than table salt.”

The lawsuit claims that exposure to two ingredients in Roundup, glyphosate and the surfactant polyethoxylated tallow amine (POEA), caused Kowal’s diagnosis of Large B-cell lymphoma, which may have been avoided if the manufacturer had provided warnings and safety instructions that would have limited exposure to the herbicide.

Kowal indicates that he and other agricultural workers were unaware of the link between Roundup and cancer until last year, when the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) determined that glyphosate contained in Roundup is likely a cancer-causing agent. In particular, the IARC report linked the side effects of Roundup to an increased risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

“Glyphosate, and Defendant’s Roundup products in particular, have long been associated with serious side effects and many regulatory agencies around the globe have banned or are currently banning the use of glyphosate herbicide products,” the lawsuit notes. “Defendant’s statements proclaiming the safety of Roundup and disregarding its dangers misled Plaintiff.”

The case joins a growing number of Roundup lawsuits filed throughout the United States, typically involving individuals diagnosed with large B-cell lymphoma or another form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma following regular and consistent exposure to Roundup as a farm or agricultural worker. The plaintiffs allege that the manufacturer recklessly promoted Roundup and pushed greater and greater use of the chemical, without disclosing the potential health risks.

A recent U.S. Geological Survey on glyphosate usage nationwide found that an estimated 2.6 billion pounds of the herbicide has been sprayed on America’s agricultural land over the two decades since the mid-1990s, when Monsanto introduced “Roundup Ready” crops that are designed to survive being sprayed with glyphosate, killing the weeds but not the crops.

The lawsuits over Roundup allege that plaintiffs may have avoided a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma or other cancers if they had been warned about the Roundup risks for farmers, landscapers and others in the agricultural industry, as safety precautions could have been taken or other products could have been used to control the growth of weeds.

While Kowal’s lawsuit was filed in state court, most Roundup cases have been filed at the federal level and are being transferred to the recently established MDL, or multidistrict litigation. Those complaints filed in U.S. District Courts nationwide have been centralized before U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in the Northern District of California, for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

Following coordinated proceedings before Judge Chhabria, if Roundup cancer settlements or another resolution for the cases are not reached, those complaints may be remanded back to the federal courts where they were originally filed for individual trial dates.