IS ROUNDUP WEED KILLER SAFE TO USE?
Over the last few years, Monsanto’s Roundup product has been in the news and subject to a few massive jury verdicts. In those cases, plaintiffs argued that Roundup was a substantial factor in causing their Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). Juries have agreed. Roundup is the most widely used herbicidal weedkiller in the world. For more than four decades, Monsanto (purchased by German pharmaceutical giant Bayer in 2018) has produced and sold Roundup to commercial (farmers, groundskeepers) and private consumers alike. The main weedkilling agent in Roundup is a chemical compound called glyphosate. In the late 1990s, Monsanto’s patent on glyphosate expired. Soon after, many other generic herbicide products began using glyphosate in their weedkillers. Because of its ability to kill weeds while not killing glyphosate- resistant crops, glyphosate is everywhere. Some experts estimate that over 90% of people have some level of exposure to glyphosate through residues in water, food, and dust. We don’t know yet if any of us have an increased risk of cancer due to trace amounts of glyphosate residues in our environment. In certain industries, however, workers face a much higher risk of significant exposure to glyphosate. These industries typically include farming, groundskeeping, lawn maintenance, and any other jobs that use weedkillers consistently. Oftentimes, these workers will use concentrated versions of glyphosate herbicide products and then dilute them with water. As a result, they’re exposed to an increased concentration of glyphosate.
When combined with the frequency they use the product, these workers are exposed to dangerous levels of glyphosate.
In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of the World Health Organization, determined that glyphosate was “probably carcinogenic” in humans. Since then, many people sued companies like Monsanto, alleging that their Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was caused by their use of glyphosate-based Roundup products on the job. For decades, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared glyphosate as a safe product. However, the Roundup cancer lawsuits have revealed a couple alarming facts:
1. The studies relied upon by the EPA did not take into consideration environmental or occupational exposure to glyphosate.
2. Several of the scientific studies on glyphosate were funded by Monsanto — which would financially benefit them most with an EPA-approved stamp of safety. So far, several juries presented with medical science have rendered verdicts in many millions of dollars. One verdict was for more than $2 billion.
At Shannon Law Group, many of our clients who have filed Roundup lawsuits have elected to stop using any glyphosate-based product altogether. In my own household, we have switched to non-glyphosate-based weed alternatives, along with manual weed pulling.
– Pat Cummings
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