A spokesperson for Bayer said that a St. Louis County jury's ruling on Tuesday in its favor was consistent with science.
“The jury’s verdict in favor of the company brings this trial to a successful conclusion and is consistent with the evidence in this case that Roundup is not responsible for the plaintiff’s illness,” a Bayer spokesperson said.
Plaintiff Sharlean Gordon of Illinois claimed the herbicide caused her to develop blood cancer.
After spraying the Roundup from 1992 to 2017 while gardening, Gordon told the court she developed a subtype of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma called DLBCL in 2006.
But as previously reported in the St. Louis Record, defense attorneys argued that’ Gordon’s illness was a matter of bad luck and she had contracted large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) as a result of naturally occurring cell mutations.
The jury verdict is the seventh Roundup victory for the defendant in Missouri’s 21st Judicial Circuit, including the Clark, Stephens, Shelton, Johnson, Alesi, and Ferro cases.
Monsanto, the defendant at trial, was acquired by the Germany-based company Bayer in 2018 in a deal worth $63 billion. Bayer inherited the Roundup litigation.
The active ingredient in Roundup is glyphosate which plaintiffs nationwide have alleged causes cancer.
“We continue to stand behind the safety of Roundup and will confidently defend the safety of our products as well as our good faith actions in any future litigation,” the Bayer spokesperson stated.
“This decision is consistent with the assessments of expert regulators worldwide as well as the overwhelming evidence from four decades of scientific studies concluding that Roundup can be used safely and is not carcinogenic."
The month-long trial, which began in late April, was marked at the start with the revelation that Gordon had been cured of cancer for more than 10 years.
“While we have great sympathy for the plaintiff in this case, the jury has weighed the evidence from both sides in this case and concluded that Roundup is not responsible for her injuries,” the spokesperson added
Gordon's attorney, Aimee Wagstaff of The Wagstaff Law Firm, does not believe Gordon's loss indicates anything about Monsanto’s alleged liability for other Roundup claimants, according to media reports.
“Unfortunately, because several key pieces of evidence did not make it to the jury, we do not believe the jurors were able to see the full picture,” Wagstaff told Courtroom View Network. “I look forward to continuing this fight."