Plaintiff attorneys on Thursday sought to undo allegations made by lawyers for Monsanto, that an expert witness toxicologist is unqualified to testify that the company’s weed killer Roundup is a carcinogen that caused the cancers of three people.
“Can two days per year exposure to Roundup cause Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma?” plaintiff attorney Erin Wood asked.
“Yes,” answered Dr. William Sawyer, a toxicologist with Indiana-based Toxicology Consultants and Assessment Specialists.
Cachan
The trial in the 21st Missouri Judicial District Court is being streamed live courtesy of Courtroom View Network.
The suit filed by plaintiffs Marty Cox, Cheryl Davis and Gary Gentile asks for punitive damages for medical bills, treatments, physical pain and mental anguish. The three have different forms of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL), a cancer. Cox was diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma, Gentile with high-grade-B-cell lymphoma and Davis with follicular lymphoma. The plaintiffs are in their 60s and 70s.
The case is of interest because Monsanto maintains a headquarters a few miles from the site of the courtroom; additional Missouri lawsuits against the company are pending and could be influenced by the trial's outcome. The hearing is also the first since the U.S. Supreme Court turned back an attempt by Monsanto lawyers to toss out suits in state courts based on federal preemption laws.
Glyphosate, the chemical in Roundup, was added to a list of hazardous materials in July of 2017 by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). This after the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) determined the substance is an animal, and thus probably a human carcinogen.
However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said there are no risks from the chemical to humans when it is used in accordance with its labeling. The EPA enacts laws while the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) oversees enforcement programs.
Sawyer, who was questioned by attorneys for both sides all this week, said exposure to Roundup caused the cancers of the three plaintiffs.
Defense attorneys attacked his qualifications as an expert witness saying he had been less than honest in claiming toxicology and medical certifications on a LinkedIn web page, an information page for professionals. They said he had failed to pass certification tests in the 1990s on the very subject (lymphoma) on which he was offering testimony.
Sawyer said he had simply ignored the LinkedIn page and failed to update it.
Defense attorney Manuel Cachan cited studies, including the 2018 Andreotti Agricultural Health Study which concluded, “No association was apparent between glyphosate (Roundup) use and solid tumors or lymphoid malignancies.”
Sawyer said that study had failed to identify T-cell lymphoma related to Roundup use.
During Thursday’s session Sawyer told Wood he was not board certified because the toxicology board he had been a member of had been disbanded.
“Have you ever given a peer-reviewed opinion that had to be retracted?” Wood asked.
“No never,” Sawyer said.
“Have you won an award for scientific literature?”
“I did in 1988, from the Science Research Society.”
“What was your GPA (grade point average)?”
“It was 3.82 out of 4.”
“Why was your LinkedIn profile out of date?”
“It portrayed 25 years (work) and it was really 34 years,” Sawyer said.
“Was it accurate when you first wrote it?”
“Yes.”
Sawyer was asked if he believed Roundup was a carcinogen.
“Yes,” he responded.
Sawyer said the plaintiffs sprayed the chemical on plants during hot weather in Florida while wearing shorts and sandals. Davis had sometimes performed spraying without wearing gloves.
“Did body contact (spray) help shape your opinion?” Wood asked.
“Yes,” Sawyer said.
“Had she (Davis) worn gloves, would she still be at risk of NHL?”
“Yes,” Sawyer answered. “When the trigger (spray dispenser) was pulled it leaked. Wearing gloves could be even worse, you’re wearing a diffuse wet (with Roundup) glove.”
Sawyer indicated that the plaintiffs had gotten the chemical on their skin and breathed its spray in particles in the wind.
“A breeze of three miles per hour is enough to keep a mist (Roundup) on top of a person,” Sawyer said. “Drift is the amount of time it takes particles to settle.”
“Would a slight breeze produce drift?”
“Yes.”
Sawyer said he asked the plaintiffs when they used Roundup and when they took showers.
“This is critical,” he said. “If it (Roundup) is not washed off it continues to absorb into the skin.”
Sawyer said some past studies looking at a number of people over a period of years, studies that had found no ill effects, had failed to do follow-up with participants who had died, possibly from NHL.
“There was no follow-up of people (study participants) who were missing,” Sawyer said. “If 10% of participants have died, you could miss NHL cases.”
He called such a skewed study a “null study” because it presented data that was “non-significant” in nature.
Wood exhibited the results of an Agrican Study conducted from 1993 to 2011 in which out of 316,270 participants (median age 69), 2,545 had shown lymphoma cancers with 95% cases of NHL.
“What have you considered?” Wood asked.
“The (full) body of evidence,” Sawyer answered. “The (chemical) dose, some studies don’t have dose assessments.”
Under cross examination Cachan said “You are not an epidemiologist?”
“True,” Sawyer said.
“You’re not board certified in epidemiology, true?”
“Correct.”
“You’re not holding yourself as an expert on epidemiology, true or not?”
“I don’t know, I have training and experience as a toxicologist,” Sawyer said.
Cachan repeated the question.
“No,” Sawyer said (not expert on epidemiology).
Cachan said a McDuffie Study in 2001 did not adjust to consider other possible pesticide exposures.
Sawyer agreed.
Cachan said the Andreotti Study (2017) when adjusted for other pesticides exposures did not find a significant connection between glyphosate (Roundup) and NHL.
“True,” Sawyer said.
Cachan said that regarding Sawyer's contention the study should have reported cases of T-cell lymphoma, “None of the plaintiffs have that (T-cell).”
“No,” Sawyer agreed.
Cachan also challenged Sawyer’s statement that 10% of people participating in a study over a number of years who had died could have died from NHL.
“You’ve got no proof of that, have you?” Cachan asked.
“No,” Sawyer said.
“The Andreotti Study found no association between glyphosate use and NHL, is it true doctor?”
“Yes.”