A San Diego County Superior Court jury reached a multi-million dollar verdict in the case between a Carlsbad man and the chemical giant Monsanto Company, now owned by Bayer, on Tuesday.
The lawsuit was filed in November 2021, according to the court’s register of actions. It claimed that 57-year-old Mike Dennis’ rare cancer diagnosis was related to decades of use of the popular weed killer Roundup.
“Glyphosate, the active ingredient for roundup, is genotoxic," Adam Peavy, one of the attorneys who represented Dennis in trial, told NBC 7. “It causes DNA damage once it’s absorbed through the skin, and that’s what ultimately causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.”
Dennis was diagnosed with a rare form of T-cell lymphoma, known as mycosis fungoides, in 2020. Peavy told NBC 7 Dennis spent the years prior dealing with rashes on his hands and feet. Doctors were unable to find out what it was and would treat him for psoriasis or eczema, but Dennis wouldn’t respond to treatments.
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“He asked his doctor, and most doctors don’t know a lot about glyphosate in Roundup, but he asked his doctors, did a little more research then ultimately contacted us,” Peavy said.
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Peavy added Dennis had been using Roundup products for three decades.
“He took care of multiple homes over a 35-year period,” he said. “He started spraying it with his dad and they mixed the concentrate back in the mid-80s and then he transitioned into using the ready-mix version that’s already pre-done.”
Peavy told NBC 7 Dennis is a longtime Carlsbad resident who loves to surf and has two sons. Thankfully, Peavy said, he has been in remission for close to three years.
“They got it pretty early. He had significant treatment, it went away and we were lucky for that,” Peavy said.
But the battle Dennis faces may not be over.
“The unfortunate reality of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is there’s no cure and Mike deals with it on a daily basis wondering when it’s going to come back,” Peavy said. “His doctors have told him it’s going to come back and we’re just waiting to see if that happens.”
Bayer sent NBC 7 a statement in response to the verdict:
”We respectfully disagree with the jury’s adverse verdict, though it found in favor of the company on two of the four claims, and believe that we have strong arguments on appeal to get this unfounded verdict overturned and the unconstitutionally excessive damage award eliminated or reduced, given that there were significant and reversible legal and evidentiary errors made during this trial. We have a winning record in the Roundup litigation – having won nine of the last twelve cases at trial – and have resolved the majority of claims filed in this litigation.”
Peavy responded by saying he hopes they do not try to minimize the outcome, but if they do, “we’ll go up on appeal and we’ll see how it works out.”
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website, when it comes to glyphosate, “there are no risks of concern to human health when glyphosate is used in accordance with its current label. EPA also found that glyphosate is unlikely to be a human carcinogen.”
