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Anthony ‘Jack’ McCall, 69, died Dec. 26 after a . . .battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. . . . But questions about why. . .he was stricken – a man who never smoked, stayed fit and had no history of cancer in his family – are part of what some legal experts see as a potential landmark legal claim against one of the world’s largest agrichemical companies, Monsanto Co.
McCall shunned pesticide use on his farm, except for the herbicide called Roundup – marketed by Monsanto as having extremely low toxicity. . . .
. . .[N]ow in his death, McCall is one of several plaintiffs in more than a dozen lawsuits that claim the active ingredient in Roundup – a chemical called glyphosate – gave them cancer, and that Monsanto has long known glyphosate poses “significant risks to human health, including a risk of causing cancer.”
The lawsuits, brought by plaintiffs in California, Florida, Missouri, Delaware, Hawaii,. . . . claim Monsanto has hidden evidence, and manipulated regulators and the public into believing in the safety of glyphosate. . . .
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. . .[E]nvironmental . . . attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. . . .predicts glyphosate liability litigation will become as widespread as has been decades of litigation over asbestos, which is seen in legal circles as the longest-running mass tort action in U.S. history.
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Legal experts . . . are watching the cases with interest, and many say given a lack of regulatory support for the cancer linkage, plaintiffs’ attorneys have an uphill climb to make such claims stick.
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Attorney Brent Wisner, who is representing the McCall family, said he is confident in the strength of the evidence against Monsanto. . . .
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How big and how bloody the litigation becomes is still an open question. . . .
Read full, original post: What Killed Jack McCall? A California Farmer Dies and a Case Against Monsanto Takes Root