California jury awards $2 billion to couple who say Roundup weedkiller caused their cancer

A Northern California jury on Monday awarded $2.055 billion to a Bay Area couple who say Bayer's Roundup weedkiller caused their cancer.

Alva and Alberta Pilliod are in their 70s, and said that after using Roundup for more than 35 years, they were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2011 and 2015; both are now in remission. Their attorneys argued that scientific studies show glyphosate, the primary ingredient in Roundup, is a carcinogen. Bayer's lawyers noted that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other regulators have approved the product for use.

This is the third court loss in a row for Bayer due to Roundup, which it acquired when the company purchased Monsanto in 2018; a groundskeeper who said the weedkiller gave him cancer was awarded $78.5 million in August, and another man who also said it caused his cancer was awarded $80 million in March. Bayer is appealing the August ruling, and said it plans to appeal the March one as well.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Roundup is still on the market, and it does not come with a warning label. Costco no longer sells the product, but overall, sales are not down, The Wall Street Journal reports.