A recent complaint filed in federal court in Sioux City alleges agrochemical company Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup gave a man cancer.
In the complaint filed Aug. 14 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa Western Division, Ray Harry of Scottsdale, Arizona says he used the weed killer for 23 years, five of which were when he lived in Osceola County in northwest Iowa.
In September 2017, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a white blood cell cancer.
The complaint alleges Monsanto knew ingredients in Roundup like glyphosate were toxic but continued to market the product. It references a 2015 evaluation from the International Agency for Research on Cancer that focused on several herbicides like glyphosate.
“The IARC Working Group classified glyphosate as a Group 2A herbicide, which means that is probably carcinogenic to humans,” the complaint reads. “The IARC Working Group concluded that the cancers most associated with glyphosate exposure are non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other haematopoietic cancers…”
Harry is seeking relief in money and punitive damages.
Harry’s complaint joins a rash of other lawsuits around the country following a California jury’s verdict awarding $289 million to a school groundskeeper who says he got cancer from Roundup.
Scott Partridge, the senior vice president of Monsanto’s parent company Bayer, responded in a statement, saying, “More than 800 scientific studies, the U.S. EPA, the National Institutes of Health and regulators around the world have concluded that glyphosate is safe for use and does not cause cancer.”
He continued, “We have empathy for anyone suffering from cancer, but the scientific evidence clearly shows that glyphosate was not the cause. We look forward to presenting this evidence in court.”
The company also says glyphosate has a “40 year history of safe use.”
