Monsanto ordered to pay $290m in world’s first Roundup cancer trial

Berlin — Monsanto’s German owners insisted on Saturday that weedkiller Roundup was "safe", rejecting a California jury’s decision to order the chemical giant to pay nearly $290m for failing to warn a dying groundskeeper that it might cause cancer. While observers predicted thousands of potential future claims against the company in the wake of Monsanto’s defeat, Bayer — which recently acquired the US giant — said the California ruling went against scientific evidence. "On the basis of scientific conclusions, the views of worldwide regulatory authorities and the decades-long practical experience with glyphosate use, Bayer is convinced that glyphosate is safe and does not cause cancer," the company said. Other courts with other juries might "arrive at different conclusions" than the jury which ruled in the California lawsuit, the first to accuse glyphosate of causing cancer. Jurors unanimously found Monsanto — which vowed to appeal — had acted with "malice" and that its weedkillers Ro...