Retailers now face lawsuits related to selling Roundup

The famous weed killer Roundup was developed to effectively kill any plants that gardeners or farmers didn’t want on their property. Monsanto, the company that developed the compound, went so far as to also develop crop seeds that were resistant to the spray, allowing farmers to readily apply the herbicide to their entire field without worrying about killing their crops.

While some kinds of plants seem to do just fine with glyphosate exposure, the same is not necessarily true of humans exposed to this potent plant killer, especially if the exposure is heavy and over a long time. There has been some scientific correlation between prolonged exposure to glyphosate and the developments of Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma later on in life.

The company responsible for manufacturing Roundup, Monsanto, has begun to face an increasingly large number of lawsuits brought by consumers who believe that the herbicide caused their cancer. Monsanto has continued to claim in court that the chemical is safe. They refuse to label their product to reflect the potential danger. Now, other major companies may also face lawsuits, as attorneys and cancer victims target big retailers as well as the manufacturer of this compound.

Walmart and Lowe’s both face legal scrutiny

Walmart is a big-box retailer that sells everything from groceries to clothing to pet supplies, while Lowe’s has made a name for itself providing home improvement equipment and supplies to consumers and contractors. Both of these businesses have long sold Roundup and similar compounds, despite increasing evidence that the active compound in Roundup was not necessarily safe for humans.

Lowe’s currently faces lawsuits in both Arkansas and California for its sale of Roundup, with the lawsuits potentially including consumers who have purchased the product in the last four or five years. The lawsuits focus on potential violations of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and California consumer and environmental protection laws.

Why people are going after retailers in this scenario

If a large number of the current lawsuits pending against Monsanto prove successful, the company may eventually have trouble paying out claims to victims who develop severe cancer because of their products. The company has already had several multi-million dollar losses in high-profile cases.

Targeting secondary companies, such as retailers who made the compounds easily accessible to the public, makes it more likely that the victims of these dangerous products will be able to recover their financial losses in court.

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a debilitating cancer, although some patients do go into remission and recover. The treatment process for battling this kind of cancer is often physically painful and prohibitively expensive. Lawsuits can help those struggling to pay for their treatment provide for themselves and ensure that their family has something to depend on financially while they are undergoing treatment or if they succumb to their illness.