A Georgia jury has delivered a seismic blow to pharmaceutical giant Bayer, awarding a staggering $2.1 billion to a man who claims Roundup weedkiller caused his cancer. The landmark verdict adds fuel to the ongoing debate about whether one of America’s most popular herbicides is silently making people sick.
At a glance:
• Georgia jury orders Bayer to pay $2.1 billion in damages over claims Roundup caused non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
• The verdict includes $65 million in compensatory damages and $2 billion in punitive damages
• Bayer plans to appeal, arguing the verdict contradicts scientific evidence and regulatory consensus
• This is one of many legal defeats for Bayer since acquiring Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018
• More than 60,000 similar Roundup lawsuits are still pending against the company
Massive Verdict Adds to Bayer’s Legal Woes
The Georgia jury determined that John Barnes deserved $65 million in compensatory damages and a whopping $2 billion in punitive damages after developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma allegedly from using Roundup. This verdict delivered another devastating legal setback for Bayer, which has already paid approximately $10 billion to settle similar claims.
Bayer inherited the Roundup legal nightmare when it acquired Monsanto in 2018 for $63 billion, a decision that has haunted the company ever since. The German pharmaceutical giant has set aside an additional $5.9 billion to cover the more than 60,000 pending lawsuits related to the popular weedkiller.
The case is one close to the heart of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has previously successfully litigated cases involving Roundup weed killer. Kennedy was long called a conspiracy theorist for making the argument that a Georgia jury just agreed with.
Science Divided on Cancer Risk
The International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate, Roundup’s active ingredient, as “probably carcinogenic to humans” in 2015. This classification has been the foundation for thousands of lawsuits claiming the herbicide caused various types of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in users who had regular exposure to the product.
Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency maintains that glyphosate is unlikely to be a human carcinogen when used according to label directions. Conflicting guidance from major regulatory bodies has caused confusion for consumers and provided openings for both plaintiffs and defendants in these cases.
The company continues to defend the safety of its product. “We believe that we have strong arguments on appeal to get this verdict overturned and the excessive and unconstitutional damage awards eliminated or reduced,” Bayer stated following the Georgia verdict.
Legal Pattern Emerges Against Bayer
Kyle Findley, Barnes’s attorney, described the ruling as an “important milestone” in the legal battle that began in 2021. The plaintiff accused Bayer of ignoring scientific studies on Roundup’s toxicity and deliberately denying its connection to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, claims that have been echoed in numerous similar lawsuits.
This verdict follows another significant legal defeat for Bayer last October, when a Philadelphia jury awarded $75 million in punitive damages in a separate Roundup case. The company claims that damages in cases with final judgments have typically been reduced by about 90% compared to original jury awards.
