Judge Sides With Ex-EPA Employee in Monsanto Cancer Suit

A federal judge rejected an attempt by attorneys to pry more information out of a retired EPA scientist embroiled in a bitter battle between Monsanto Co. and thousands of cancer victims. The judge also criticized lawyers at a recent hearing for mounting a public relations campaign against the agrichemical giant.U.S. District for the Northern District of California Judge Vince Chhabria on denied a motion from victims’ attorneys to compel additional testimony from Jess Rowland, a former deputy director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Pesticide Programs who led the cancer review for Monsanto Co.'s signature weedkiller, Roundup. The plaintiffs allege that the herbicide gave them non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a common form of cancer affecting the lymphatic system ( In re Roundup Products Liability Litigation , N.D. Cal., 3:16-md-02741, 5/15/17 ). Rowland wrote a preliminary report that found that glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, is not likely to cause cancer, and left the agency shortly after that report was accidentally posted online. The attorneys have sought to portray Rowland as a key player in assuring glyphosate’s stamp of approval in the U.S., despite a 2015 finding from the International Agency for Research on Cancer that the herbicide is probably carcinogenic.