Roundup Cancer Link Makes Weedkiller Unreasonably Dangerous, Lawsuit Alleges

According to allegations raised in a lawsuit filed against Monsanto this week, the link between use of the popular weedkiller Roundup and non-Hodgkins lymphoma makes the product unreasonably dangerous for its normal, intended use.

In a complaint (PDF) filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois on July 18, Charles Bridgeman indicates that he was diagnosed with the form of cancer in 2011, following use of Roundup on a regular basis to control weeds since the mid-1990’s.

Bridgeman indicates that he followed all safety and precautionary warnings during use of the weedkiller, indicating that Monsanto failed to adequately disclose the Roundup cancer link, providing false and misleading representations that the active ingredient contained in the product, glyphosate, was safe, non-toxic and non-carcinogenic.

Although Roundup has been widely used throughout the United States for decades, concerns about the safety of the weedkiller have emerged since the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) determined that t that glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen. The IARC specifically tied Roundup exposure to a potential increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

“Despite the new classification by the IARC, Defendants have had ample evidence of glyphosate and Roundup’s genotoxic properties for decades,” claims the lawsuit filed by Bridgeman, which indicates that Roundup products contained “unreasonably dangerous design defects and were not reasonably safe when used in a reasonably anticipated manner.”

The case joins a growing number of Roundup cancer lawsuits filed against Monsanto in courts throughout the United States in recent months, alleging that farm workers, landscapers and others in the agricultural business have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma or other forms of cancer following regular exposure to glyphosate.

An estimated 2.6 billion pounds of the herbicide have been sprayed on America’s agricultural land over the two decades, since Monsanto introduced “Roundup Ready” crops that are designed to survive being sprayed with with the chemical, killing the weeds but not the crops. However, Bridgeman and other plaintiffs allege that the manufacturer failed to disclose the potential cancer link with Roundup or provide adequate safety warnings for farmers, landscapers, homeowners or others regularly spraying Roundup.

As Roundup injury lawyers continue to review and file claims for individuals throughout the United States, it is widely expected that several thousand similar complaints will brought against Monsanto in courts nationwide in the coming months and years.