User:Skezmoh/Johnson v. Monsanto Co.

Background
Dewayne “Lee” Johnson, the plaintiff in this case, sprayed hundreds of gallons of RoundUp over the course of his career as a school groundskeeper in Benicia, California. Johnson was not worried about the dangers of RoundUp due to claimed insufficient labeling. However, out of an abundance of caution, he wore safety equipment when he applied the chemical. On one occasion one of the sprayers he was using broke and he was drenched in RoundUp. He cleaned himself to the best of his abilities and did not initially worry about the consequences. After that incident, he began to get rashes and skin irritation. Then, in 2014 at age 42, Johnson was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, which he attributed to repeated exposure to RoundUp in his work as a groundskeeper. In 2017, he was given a terminal diagnosis and was told that he would only live another 6 months.

Johnson Claimed Monsanto was "Ghostwriting" in Academic Articles
During the case, Johnson brought up Monsanto’s “ghostwriting” in scientific papers. Johnson cited emails between Monsanto employees ...

https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/agj2.20366?casa_token=t9vO_6uI5n8AAAAA%3A3m3aXjxb5_Pn28NrTT3zi8uShwjwnZq1i6Mfrti43jAvg0rikWT4YhKnmihrXYxZQF39Acvq-rXQWrwc#agj220366-bib-0042

https://www.baumhedlundlaw.com/documents/pdf/monsanto-documents/final-minority-report-glyphosate-spinning-science-silencing-scientists.pdf

Predicted Impact on Future Cases
For the many similar cases against Monsanto, the results of the Johnson case will be very impactful.