President Donald Trump’s EPA and the Justice Department sided with Bayer, the company that bought out Monsanto, arguing that the recent federal appeals court decision, that had sided with a cancer-stricken California man, should reverse their decision making Bayer not liable.
California resident Edwin Hardeman was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma back in 2015 after using Roundup, a glyphosate-based pesticide, and decided to sue Bayer holding them responsible for his acquired illness. The federal jury sided in favor of Hardeman and ordered Bayer to pay him roughly $25 million in damages.
According to Reuters, the government said in a friend of the court brief filed on Friday that glyphosate, the weed killer’s active ingredient, is not a carcinogen and as a result, a warning on the label was not required as California state law demands. Bayer argued it would be impossible to comply with the Hardeman verdict, a lawsuit brought under state law, because any warning label would be in conflict with guidance from a federal agency.
Back in April, the EPA had reaffirmed that glyphosate is not a carcinogen saying: they “continue to find that there are no risks to public health when glyphosate is used in accordance with its current label and that glyphosate is not a carcinogen. Environmental advocates, however, say otherwise.
Along with federal support, the company also found support on Wall Street, with its stock at one point rising to 14-month highs of $73.93, a gain of 3.5%, says CBS News.
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