$78M Awarded To Montco Man In Roundup Weed Killer Suit: Reports

ABINGTON TOWNSHIP, PA —A Montgomery County man has been awarded $78 million in a lawsuit involving an ingredient in Roundup weed killer that caused him to develop blood cancer, according to reports.

William Melissen, 51, of Abington Township, filed the product liability lawsuit in 2021 after he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma a year earlier, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The $78 million award was delivered last week by a jury in Philadelphia, resolving one of numerous lawsuits against Roundup manufacturer Monsanto and its parent company, Bayer AG., the newspaper said.

Melissen said he had been using Roundup at home and work since 1992. The weed killer contains the herbicide glyphosate, which is widely used in large-scale agriculture and hundreds of products sold around the world, Philly Voice said.

Although the company has won 14 of the last 20 Roundup lawsuits filed in the United States, past verdicts have awarded individual plaintiffs several hundred million dollars in some cases, Reuters reported.

After years of litigation claiming Roundup causes cancer, Monsanto announced in 2021 it would no longer include the chemical in its products meant for residential use.

Monsanto and Bayer maintain that glyphosate has not been definitively linked to cancer, although there is ongoing research into whether long-term exposure in high amounts may be connected to higher rates of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Bayer settled the bulk of the Roundup litigation for $10.9 billion in 2020, but it still faces about 58,000 claims, according to the company's most recent financial report.

"We disagree with the jury's verdict, as it conflicts with the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence and the consensus of regulatory bodies and their scientific assessments worldwide," Bayer said in a statement regarding the $78 million verdict.