A court in San Francisco ordered chemical giant Monsanto to a man who claims the company's products caused his terminal cancer.
ADVERTISEMENTA court in the U.S. has ordered the chemical company, Monsanto, to pay 235 million euros in damages to a man who claimed his cancer was caused by glyphosate in its herbicides.
Dewayne Johnson had regularly used the weedkillers Roundup and Ranger Pro while working as a groundskeeper at a school in California.
"I'm glad to be here to help with the situation after I learned about Roundup and glyphosate and everything," said Johnson after the verdict.
"I'm glad to be here to be able to help, the cause is way bigger than me. Hopefully, this thing will get the attention it needs so folks can make a good choice."
Johnson is one of some 5,000 plaintiffs across the U.S. and his victory is likely to lead to many more claims against Monsanto, which was recently bought by Geman chemical giant Bayer AG.
"The verdict today, it doesn't change the overwhelming scientific evidence and the 40 years of safe use of glyphosate around the world," said Scott Partridge, Vice-President of Monsanto.
"It is the widely used herbicide in the world, it's the most widely studied herbicide in the world. I don't know how they got it wrong but they got it wrong."
Glyphosate is the world's most common weedkiller. The World Health Organisation reported that it is "probably carcinogenic to humans," but despite that finding, the European Commission recently granted the substance another five-year licence.