Bayer Faces Roundup Lawsuit in Australia
Bayer is already facing more than US 13,000 lawsuit contending that Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide causes cancer. Now – as had been widely speculated over the past few weeks – it has its first in Australia.
Lawyers for 54-year-old self-employed landscape gardener Michael Ogalirolo said he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma after using Roundup for more than 20 years. All of the US lawsuits heard so far were brought by people suffering from this form of leukemia.
The writ filed by Carbone Lawyers in the supreme court of the state of Victoria on Jun. 3 alleges that Monsanto Australia failed to warn consumers that its Roundup products are dangerous to human health and could cause cancer.
The defendant knew or ought to have known that the use of Roundup products was dangerous and capable of causing serious injury, in particular causing DNA and chromosomal damage in human cells, cancer, kidney disease, infertility and nerve damage, among other devastating illnesses, the writ says.
Ogalirolo’s lawyer, Tony Carbone, told the Reuters news agency his client is seeking damages from the company for endangering his life, for loss of income and cost of care. He also wants the manufacturer to be “punished for supplying a product that is not safe.”
Bayer told Reuters it was aware of the report but had not received the writ.
The German group is not the only agrochemicals producer whose share price has suffered from the negative publicity over Roundup. Bayer’s stock market value has fallen below what it paid for Monsanto after shedding more than 40% percent since it lost its first court case in August 2018.
Reports said shares of Australia’s Nufarm dropped to a more than five-year low this week after the crop protection group said it was exposed to risk of litigation because it was a supplier of glyphosate-based herbicides.
