Australian Judge Dismisses Suit Claiming Bayer Weedkiller Causes Blood Cancer

An Australian judge has dismissed a class action lawsuit claiming Bayer's Roundup weedkiller can cause a type of blood cancer.

Bayer has long maintained that Roundup and glyphosate are safe. I Photo: Mike Mozart Flickr

The ruling is expected to bolster Bayer's defense in similar cases in the US, Peter Hobson and Alasdair Pal reported for Reuters.

More than 1,000 people had joined the lawsuit, alleging Roundup's active ingredient, glyphosate, caused their non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).

Justice Michael Lee of Australia's Federal Court stated he had reviewed epidemiological studies, animal studies, and mechanistic evidence regarding the links between glyphosate and lymphoma and found insufficient evidence to prove the chemical caused cancer in humans.

"It is not proven in this proceeding on a balance of probabilities that throughout the relevant period use of, and or exposure to, Roundup products increased an individual's risk of developing NHL," Lee said.

The claimants' law firm, Maurice Blackburn, is considering an appeal. The lead claimant, 41-year-old Kelvin McNickle, used Roundup to spray weeds for over two decades on his family's property and while working for a vegetation management company.

He developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma at age 35.

Bayer, a German chemicals and pharmaceuticals company, has long maintained that Roundup and glyphosate are safe. It has faced numerous lawsuits over Roundup in the US since acquiring Monsanto, the product's original owner, in 2018, and still has over 50,000 outstanding claims.