March 4, 2018 – San Francisco, California – – A Daubert Hearing for the federal Monsanto Roundup litigation is scheduled to begin on Monday, March 5, 2018, at U.S. District Court, Northern District of California in San Francisco. More than 365 Roundup cancer lawsuits against Monsanto have been combined in federal multidistrict litigation (MDL- In re Roundup Products Liability Litigation- Case Number: 3:16-md-02741-VC) before U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria. The hearing will begin at 10:00 AM in Courtroom 8, 19th Floor.
At aDaubert Hearing, the plaintiff and the defense legal teams present their experts to educate the court on the science behind both sides of the Roundup cancer connection. The plaintiffs must demonstrate that they have scientific evidence to back their claims that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).
On March 5, Judge Chhabria will oversee the Daubert Roundup cancer hearing for the MDL. A Daubert hearing is an evaluation to determine the admissibility of testimony from expert witnesses.
In this case, Judge Chhabria will determine if the experts providing scientific opinions regarding causation will be permitted to testify at trial. The focus in those determinations is whether the experts used a recognized, reliable methodology for arriving at their opinions, which is an important difference from actually determining that Roundup causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
If Judge Chhabria determines that the experts used valid methodologies, then the cases would proceed to trial and the experts would provide evidence and testimony regarding whether Roundup generally causes NHL and additionally whether that propensity for inducing NHL caused a particular Roundup user’s NHL.
The jury would then decide whether the evidence more likely than not shows Roundup caused the individual’s NHL.
Carey Gillam of US Right to Know, asks attorney Michael Baum to explain the purpose of the Monsanto Roundup cancer Daubert Hearing.
Plaintiffs’ Expert Witnesses for Daubert Roundup Cancer Hearing
Attorneys for the plaintiffs announced the following experts in order of scheduled appearance:
Dr. Ritz has doctoral degrees in Medicine and Epidemiology. She has authored numerous toxicology publications lectures and presentations. Dr. Ritz engaged in a systematic review of the literature in this case, utilized the Bradford Hill Criteria and concluded that “to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, glyphosate causes NHL. Furthermore, to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, glyphosate-based formulations, including Roundup, cause NHL.”
Dr. Weisenburger has published over 300 papers on NHL in peer-reviewed journals, and over 50 papers on the epidemiology of NHL, including studies on glyphosate and NHL. Dr. Weisenburger engaged in a systematic review of the literature in this case, utilized the Bradford Hill Criteria, and concluded that to “a reasonable degree of medical certainty that glyphosate and GBFs (including Roundup) can cause NHL in humans exposed to these chemicals in the workplace or environment.”
Expert Report of Dr. Weisenburger
Dr. Neugut was awarded the Myron M. Studner Professorship in Cancer Research in the Department of Medicine. He is also the Director of Junior Faculty Development for the Department of Epidemiology, overseeing about 30 assistant professors. Dr. Neugut has published over 500 articles in medical journals dealing primarily with carcinogenesis of various agents and compounds.
Dr. Neugut engaged in a systematic review of the literature in this case, used the Bradford Hill Criteria, and concluded that “epidemiologic and scientific evidence currently available leads to the conclusion to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty for the most expert, objective, and reasonable viewers, myself included, that the use of glyphosate in its various combinations can cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma.”
Dr. Jameson also served as program leader for the National Toxicology Program at the NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) for 12 years, during which time he was listed as a contributor to over one hundred chemical peer-reviewed bioassay studies. Dr. Jameson worked on the NTP’s Report on Carcinogens (RoC) for more than 18 years and is the Senior Author for 69 NTP RoC Background Documents, also serving as the RoC Director for 13 years.
Dr. Jameson has participated as an IARC Working Group member, serving as an overall Chair or Subgroup Chair, and he is author or co-author in numerous peer-reviewed scientific publications and book chapters, as well as the editor of several editions of the RoC and co-editor of two books on toxicity testing. Dr. Jameson is a member of the American Chemical Society and the Society of Toxicology and he participates in peer reviews for six scientific journals.
Dr. Jameson engaged in a systematic review of the literature, in this case, utilized a weight-of-evidence methodology utilized by NTP and IARC, and concluded that to a “reasonable degree of scientific certainty that glyphosate and glyphosate-based formulations are probable human carcinogens” and also concluded, “to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty that glyphosate and glyphosate-based formulations cause NHL in humans.”
Dr. Portier is a member of the Society of Toxicology and the American Public Health Association. Dr. Portier has also received many awards for his government and non-government work including the Best Paper Award from the Society of Toxicology, Merit Award from the National Institutes of Health, several “Paper of the Year” awards from the Society of Toxicology, the Outstanding Risk Practitioner Award of the Society for Risk Analysis, and was an elected fellow of the International Statistical Institute.
He has published 164 peer-reviewed articles, 35 journal reviews, 33 book chapters, and 46 reports and government agency publications, and he has participated in six IARC working groups, either as Chair or a working group member. His experience encompasses the design, performance, and analysis of studies, including animal bioassays (as well as the supervision thereof), that evaluate the carcinogenic effects of chemicals and pesticides on humans.
Dr. Portier engaged in a systematic review of the literature in this case, utilized the Bradford Hill Criteria, and concluded that “[i]n my opinion, glyphosate probably causes NHL and, given the human, animal and experimental evidence, I assert that, to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, the probability that glyphosate causes NHL is high.”
Dr. Matthew Ross is an Associate Professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine, at Mississippi State University. He has a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and expertise on the impact of environmental toxins on signal transduction pathways in cells. He was a part of the mechanism section of the IARC 112 working group. Dr. Ross explains why the strong evidence that glyphosate is genotoxic and causes oxidative stress are relevant to carcinogenicity in humans.
Dr. Nabhan also has a sub-specialty in the treatment of lymphomas. Until last year, he treated approximately 30 lymphoma patients per week. Dr. Nabhan regularly relies on both epidemiology and toxicology studies in his clinical practice and is well versed in the etiology, background, and treatment of NHL. Dr. Nabhan engaged in a systematic review of the literature, in this case, utilized the Bradford Hill Criteria, and concluded that “[t]he weight of the scientific evidence supports causality between Roundup/glyphosate exposure and NHL.”
Attorneys for Monsanto announced the following experts in order of scheduled appearance:
He served on boards to the NIH, USDA, EPA, AVMA, and Morris Animal Fdn and was a consultant in preclinical safety in endocrine, bone, and reproductive pathology and models of cancer. He investigates hypercalcemia, bone metastasis, prostate, breast, and head, and neck cancer and is a mentor for over 50 Ph.D. students and postdocs. Dr. Rosal received his Ph.D. in Experimental Pathobiology from Ohio State University in 1986. He received his D.V.M. in 1981 from the University of Illinois.
Dr. Mucci earned a BS in Biology at Tufts University, an MPH in Epidemiology from Boston University, and an ScD in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Thousands of individuals from across the country have filed lawsuits against Monsanto alleging exposure to Roundup weed killer caused them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In addition to the federal MDL in San Francisco, people from California, Nebraska, Delaware, and Missouri have filed claims in state courts making similar allegations.
The first trial in the Roundup cancer litigation is a state court case filed in San Francisco Superior by plaintiff Dewayne Johnson, who is represented by The Miller Firm, LLC. The Johnson case will begin on June 18, 2018. Another state court case will be heard in St. Louis, Missouri in October 2018.
Since the beginning of the litigation against Monsanto, the law firm of Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman and the other firms leading the litigation have led the fight to declassify court documents that consist of internal Monsanto studies, company reports, emails, text messages, and other memoranda.
These documents, known as The Monsanto Papers, include information that Monsanto does not want the public to see. They allow the public to look behind the curtain of secrecy that normally shrouds ongoing litigation and see firsthand how Monsanto has engaged in ghostwriting scientific manipulation, and collusion with regulatory agencies (including the EPA). The documents also include previously undisclosed information about how the body absorbs glyphosate and the dangers associated with the other ingredients that make up the Roundup formulated product.
