Weed killer firm must give US cancer couple $3b
The makers of a weedkiller must pay a US couple with cancer $3 billion.
A jury ordered agribusiness giant Monsanto Co, which is owned by German chemical firm Bayer, to pay the sum to the couple, who claimed the company's popular weed killer Roundup Ready caused their cancers.
Alva and Alberta Pilliod, who are in their 70s, claimed they used Roundup for more than 30 years to landscape their home and other properties, without protective gear.
They were both diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Alva and Alberta Pilliod, who are in their 70s, claimed they used Roundup for more than 30 years to landscape their home and other properties, without protective gear. Supplied
The couple have two children and four grandchildren, according to their lawyer Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman’s website.
Alva suffers from non-Hodgkin lymphoma in his bones that spread to his pelvis and spine.
He was diagnosed in 2011. Alberta was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma brain cancer in 2015.
“We are very angry. We hope to get justice,” Mrs Pilliod said last year according to the lawyers website.
“If we had been given accurate information, if we had been warned, this wouldn’t have happened.”
The makers of a weedkiller Roundup must pay a US couple with cancer $3 billion. AAP
The jury in Oakland delivered Monsanto's third such loss in California since August.
It is the third case to go before a jury, according to the couple’s lawyers.
A federal jury in San Francisco previously ordered the weed killer maker to pay a man $115 million and a San Francisco jury in August awarded $416 million to a former greenskeeper, though a judge later reduced it.
The trials were the first of an estimated 13,000 lawsuits against Monsanto.
The company said it will appeal.
-with AP
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