New episode in the case of Roundup. On Tuesday, jurors in a california court stated that this herbicide of the american company Monsanto, now owned by the titan of German Bayer, was an "important factor" in the onset of cancer in the complainant Edwin Hardeman. In a decision that finalizes the first phase of a trial, widely publicized, and that has been ongoing since the end of February a man in his seventies to the group agrochemical.

After five days of examination and deliberation on the scientific evidence, the jurors believed unanimously that the weed killer glyphosate Monsanto had caused a non-hodgkin's lymphoma in the complainant. The man had explained to the bar to have used Roundup for twenty-five years on his property to eliminate the poison ivy. And, "a lot of times, the product came in contact with his skin. "On Christmas day 2014, he woke up and felt a lump in her throat", had explained one of his lawyers, Aimee Wasgtaff. Diagnosed diagnosed with lymphoma in 2015, he had filed a complaint the following year against Monsanto.

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The lawyers of the seventy-year-old welcomed the decision of the jury: Monsanto "does not care particularly to know if its product causes or non-cancer, preferring to manipulate public opinion and discredit anyone who raises legitimate concerns" about its flagship product, have they denounced it. For its part, Bayer said he is "disappointed" in the verdict: the group "continues to believe that the studies confirm that the herbicide glyphosate does not cause cancer". Expressing solidarity with the pain of the family of Edwin Hardeman, the company says that a "scientific body" important " has concluded that their product was not causing the cancer of the individual. "The product Roundup and active ingredient, glyphosate, have been used successfully and safely for over forty years in the world," explains Bayer: as a result, the group "supports its products and will defend vigorously," concludes the press release.

A "trial test" to the end very expected

This decision concludes the first phase of a trial that will include both. The first, scientific, was designed to determine if Roundup was or was not responsible for the appearance of cancer of the retiree. The second should result in a contingent liability of the group Monsanto and, where appropriate, damages and interest. The plaintiff's solicitors will try to convince jurors that the company wanted to influence the scientists, the media and the public about the safety of its products: "we can now focus on the evidence that Monsanto has not adopted a responsible approach and objective about the safety of Roundup," they said after the verdict. Bayer believes that the second phase will demonstrate that "Monsanto has behaved appropriately and that the company should not be regarded as responsible for" lymphoma of Edwin Hardeman.

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This case could have massive repercussions for Bayer, by establishing jurisprudence that would cause harm. According to Reuters, more than 11,000 similar cases related to the Roundup are waiting to be tried in the United States, and the courts have already spoken out against Monsanto in the past: last August, a California man, Dewayne "Lee" Johnson had received $ 289 million when a jury had concluded that his cancer had been caused by the herbicide. An amount subsequently reduced to more than 78 million dollars, and which remains outstanding following the call of Bayer.

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If the liability of Monsanto is engaged in the trial of Edwin Hardeman, thousands of similar cases could follow the same path and claim damages and interest, resulting in significant implications for the company. The investors were not mistaken: on Wednesday, the title Bayer plunged 10% on the stock Exchange at the opening.

A study in France on the dangers of glyphosate

For the group agrochemical, however, the judgment that has been made cannot lead to any snowball effect: "the decision in the first phase of the trial has no impact on future cases and trials to come, because each of them has its own context and its own legal circumstances", he says. Its flagship product, glyphosate, remains the subject of controversy: in 2015, the research group on cancer of WHO has classified as "probably carcinogenic to humans", a finding different from that of many agencies, including the Environmental protection agency (EPA) or the european chemicals Agency. In France, glyphosate use is a matter of controversy especially sensitive, the president of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, as opposed to Brussels, by viewing in 2017, its objective is to prohibit the product "no later" than 2020. At the end of January 2019, these promises have, however, seemed to be confronted with the reality: "even in three years, we will not make 100%" of the ban, he said during a trip in the Drôme. In recent weeks, several actions have been implemented to alert about the risk posed by glyphosate: fifty complaint for "endangering the lives of others" were filed in late February at the TGI de Lille in the framework of an operation of analysis of rate of glyphosate in the urine, initiated by the association Campaign to Glyphosate. On the same day, a dozen mps, including Delphine Batho (Generation ecology) and Mathilde Panot (BIA) ,have been detected in turn. Finally, the government launched an "independent study" in order to "illuminate the question of the dangers of glyphosate", and can be definitively settle the question.

Date Of Update: 22 March 2019, 00:00