Jury awards $289 million in damages after man says he got terminal cancer from Monsanto’s Roundup

August 10, 2018 By administrator

(CNN)In a groundbreaking case against agricultural giant Monsanto, a jury has awarded $250 million in punitive damages and nearly $40 million in compensatory damages to a former school groundskeeper who said he got terminal cancer from the weedkiller Roundup.

Dewayne Johnson was seeking about $400 million in punitive damages and $39 million in compensatory damages from Monsanto, his attorney Timothy Litzenburg said.

Johnson’s victory Friday could set a massive precedent for thousands of other cases against Monsanto.

Johnson was the first of hundreds of cancer patients to take the company to court over its popular weedkiller, Roundup.

Johnson, a former school groundskeeper, regularly used Roundup and claims it gave him cancer.

CNN reported last year that more than 800 patients were suing Monsanto, claiming Roundup gave them non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Since then, hundreds more plaintiffs — including cancer patients, their spouses or their estates — have also sued the agricultural giant, making similar claims.

Johnson’s case was the first to go to trial because in court filings, doctors said he was near death. And in California, dying plaintiffs can be granted expedited trials.

Lesions on much of his body

Johnson, 46, applied Roundup weedkiller 20 to 30 times per year while working as a groundskeeper for a school district near San Francisco, his attorneys said.

He testified that during his work, he had two accidents in which he was doused with the product. The first accident happened in 2012.

Two years later, in 2014, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

On bad days, Johnson is too crippled to speak. Lesions have covered as much as 80% of his body.

Litzenburg said the most heartbreaking part of Johnson’s testimony was when the father of two described telling his sons that he had terminal cancer. Johnson’s wife now works two 40-hour-per-week jobs to support the family, Litzenburg said.

Source:https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/10/health/monsanto-johnson-trial-verdict/index.html

California judge rules coffee needs cancer warning

March 30, 2018 By administrator

cancer warnings on coffee products

Finally someone agree with me that coffee is as bad as smoking..

The evidence on whether coffee is bad for our health is unclear, but an American judge says it needs cancer warnings. The World Health Organization removed coffee from its list of possible carcinogens in 2016.

The evidence surrounding whether coffee is good or bad for our health remains unclear, but an American judge says coffee needs cancer warnings. The World Health Organization removed coffee from its list of possible carcinogens in 2016.

A California judge on Wednesday ruled that coffee sellers in the American state should be required to put cancer warnings on their coffee products.

The Council for Education and Research on Toxics (CERT) wanted the coffee industry to remove acrylamide — a chemical produced in the bean roasting process that is a known carcinogen — from its processing or put warning labels on their products.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge, Elihu Berle, said Wednesday that the coffee makers had not presented sufficient grounds at trial to win the case.

“While the plaintiff offered evidence that consumption of coffee increases the risk of harm to the fetus, to infants, to children and to adults, defendants’ medical and epidemiology experts testified that they had no opinion on causation,” Berle wrote in his proposed ruling. “Defendants failed to satisfy their burden of proving … that consumption of coffee confers a benefit to human health.”

The lawsuit, which has been going on for eight years, was brought against Starbucks and 90 other companies by CERT under a controversial law passed by California voters in 1986.

The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, or Proposition 65, requires warning labels for about 900 chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects.

The law has been credited with culling cancer-causing chemicals from many products, such as potato chips, but has also been criticized for causing quick settlement shakedowns.

Lawsuit a ‘mockery’

The National Coffee Association (NCA) in America hit back at the ruling, saying “cancer warning labels on coffee would be misleading.”

In a statement released on Thursday, the NCA stated that the World Health Organization has said coffee does not cause cancer and that the US government’s own health Dietary Guidelines state coffee can be part of a healthy lifestyle.

“Coffee has been shown, over and over again, to be a healthy beverage. This lawsuit has made a mockery of Prop 65, has confused consumers, and does nothing to improve public health,” said NCA president and CEO William Murray.

The science

Scientists have not determined whether coffee is good or bad for human health, but concerns over the risks associated with coffee have been alleviated as of late, with some studies finding health benefits.

In 2016, the cancer agency of the World Health Organization (WHO) removed coffee from its “possible carcinogen” list.

According to the WHO, studies indicate coffee is unlikely to cause breast, prostate or pancreatic cancer, and it appears to lower the risks for liver and uterine cancers, the agency said. But evidence to determine its effect on many other cancer types is inadequate.

Coffee companies have said it is not feasible to remove acrylamide from their product without ruining the flavor.

law/kms (AP, dpa)

New cancer campaign in Armenia to help promote early detection and accurate diagnosis

February 12, 2018 By administrator

New cancer campaign in Armenia

Armenia is hosting a new campaign aimed at early detection of cancer and its accurate diagnosis. The campaign is conducted by Europe Donna Armenia – member of the European Breast Cancer Coalition under the slogan “Early and Accurate”. The Representative of the organization Nvard Kocharyan told at a press conference every year more women are diagnosed with cancer in the republic with majority of the cases – at later stages.

“Early detection is the best protection against cancer as studies show that those detected early have high cure and life rates, why not – more affordable cost for treatment,” Kocharyan said.

As to the accurate diagnosis, the speaker pointed to number of recorded cases with inaccurate diagnosis that lead to other range of complexities.

Kocharyan informed that the campaign includes a range of events including but not limited to breast screenings, public awareness events both in Yerevan and marzes, medical ultrasound, consultations, etc.

As Kocharyan informed around 1200 new cases of the disease are revealed in Armenia with 30 % of them in the third or fourth stages of the disease.