Monsanto knew Roundup (glyphosate) could cause cancer and suppressed the evidence for decades

The papers also documented a coordinated campaign to discredit independent researchers whose work suggested links between glyphosate and cancer. Internal emails showed Monsanto employees strategizing how to attack the credibility of scientists who questioned the herbicide's safety profile. Perhaps most damaging were communications suggesting the company had developed unusually close relationships with EPA officials—relationships that appeared to influence regulatory decisions in Monsanto's favor.

The legal consequences followed quickly. In August 2018, a California jury awarded $289 million to Dewayne Johnson, a groundskeeper who developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma and claimed Roundup exposure caused his disease. The jury found that Monsanto had failed to warn consumers of cancer risks and had acted with malice. Additional verdicts followed, with juries in other cases awarding substantial damages to Roundup users diagnosed with the same cancer.

Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, ultimately decided the litigation risk was unsustainable. The company agreed to pay over $16 billion to settle more than 100,000 pending lawsuits. The settlement did not constitute an admission that Roundup caused cancer, but it represented an extraordinary acknowledgment that the liability exposure was real and substantial.

What makes this case significant is not simply that a corporation prioritized profits over public health—a familiar refrain in corporate accountability stories. What matters is the systematic nature of the deception. This was not a case of a company making an honest mistake about a product's safety. The Monsanto Papers documented deliberate suppression of inconvenient findings, manipulation of the scientific record, and interference with regulatory processes designed to protect public health.

For anyone paying attention, the case raises uncomfortable questions about how safety determinations are made. If a corporation can successfully suppress evidence and influence regulators for decades, what other products on store shelves today might have hidden risks? The answer matters less than the underlying problem: we trusted institutions—regulatory agencies, peer-reviewed science, corporate transparency—and found them compromised.

The Roundup litigation demonstrated that these systems have real vulnerabilities. Only litigation and document discovery forced the truth into daylight. That should concern us all.

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