Emotions, not facts, are guiding juries against Roundup
Washington Examiner | Angela Logomasini
A California jury this week awarded a whopping $2 billion based on a couple’s claim that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s weed killer known as Roundup, caused their cancers. Yet just last month, the Environmental Protection Agency reaffirmed its long-held finding that the chemical does not cause cancer.
The lesson here is not that the Environmental Agency was wrong, but that sometimes the facts don’t matter to juries. Jurors can be easily swayed by the emotionally charged testimony of plaintiffs suffering with cancer, even when it’s not likely related to the claims made in the case at hand. Trial lawyers know that as emotions run high, so do the legal fees they might pocket.
Not surprisingly, trial lawyers have been running ads trolling for plaintiffs and so far have brought more than 13,000 cases against Bayer, Monsanto’s parent company. Bayer has lost the first three cases to go to trial, but the company is appealing them all.