The Trump Administration Wants To Reverse Round-Up Verdict, Protecting Bayer And Monsanto

After Bayer AG, which recently acquired the Round-Up herbicide in a $63 billion buyout of Monsanto, has once again been found guilty in a California court for not informing customers that their product can cause cancer. The Trump Administration on the other hand, wants that ruling overturned. In August of 2018, Monsanto lost their first big lawsuit alleging that the active ingredient of their Round-Up herbicide causes cancer. Dewayne Johnson, a groundskeeper in California, successfully argued that Monsanto had hidden evidence of a link to cancer in past documents and that Round-Up was the only possible cause of his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The California jury decided that the Monsanto company had acted with “malice” and was ordered to pay $289 million in damages, still arguing that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Round-Up “does not cause cancer.” Ever since that day, thousands of plaintiffs have began suing Monsanto for causing their non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. One of those plaintiffs is Edwin Hardeman, who was the first to challenge Monsanto in a federal court. The judge overseeing Edwin’s suit even restricted him from discussing Monsanto’s past, Hardeman’s “personal history”, and information about regulatory decisions, barring him from talking about anything besides whether Round-Up caused his cancer. Despite what his attorneys argued was a huge disadvantage, he was still able to get his point across, won the suit against Monsanto, and was awarded $25 million. “Although the evidence that Roundup causes cancer is quite equivocal, there is strong evidence from which a jury could conclude that Monsanto does not particularly care whether its product is in fact giving people cancer, focusing instead on manipulating public opinion and undermining anyone who raises genuine and legitimate concerns about the issue.” – Edwin Hardeman However, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Justice Department want to see that ruling overturned by a higher court, according to a Ninth Circuit court brief filed in December. Bayer’s stock soared immediately thereafter. This decision isn’t surprising seeing as though Trump ran his whole campaign on the economy, not environmental or health safety. According to a 2017 Associated Press analysis, almost half of Trump’s EPA appointees have previous industry ties, with about one-third previously working as lawyers or lobbyists for chemical or fossil fuels companies like Monsanto.