Roundup class action

Glyphosate is a non-selective herbicide first patented by Monsanto Company in 1970. By 1974, Monsanto was marketing glyphosate-based herbicides as Roundup.

Roundup Products were first registered for use in Australia in 1976.

Glyphosate has become the world’s most popular herbicide and is used extensively in Australia in agriculture, by local councils, and by home gardeners. It is the most widely used herbicide in Australia and globally. Its usage has exponentially increased in the last 20-30 years with the introduction of genetically-modified crops that are unharmed by glyphosate and the related introduction of more intensive usages of glyphosate. Glyphosate-resistant crops are generally known as Roundup Ready® seeds.

Australia is a particularly heavy user of Roundup Products. We believe that on a per capita basis, Australian usage of glyphosate-containing herbicides is far higher than in the United States.

In March 2015, the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) published an evaluation of several herbicides including glyphosate. The IARC found that glyphosate (and/or commercial formulations of glyphosate, of which Roundup is the most common) was a probable human carcinogen, and, in particular, that there was a positive association between glyphosate and NHL.

The IARC also found “sufficient evidence” that glyphosate (and/or commercial formulations containing glyphosate):

(i) caused genotoxicity (genetic damage) and oxidative stress in humans, both of which are mechanisms for the formation of cancers; and
(ii) caused cancer in animals.

Historically, Roundup has been marketed by Monsanto as not harmful to humans and other mammals. However, we allege many factors that indicate that Monsanto knew, or ought to have known, that Roundup was carcinogenic and about the risk that use of and/or exposure to Roundup increases a person’s risk of developing NHL. These include that:

• the initial tests undertaken by Monsanto to support the registration of glyphosate were later found to have been invalid and unreliable,
• information existed from at least 1981 which showed that Roundup Products/glyphosate were potentially carcinogenic, and
• glyphosate had been identified by the US EPA in March 1985 to be possibly carcinogenic to humans.

Simply registering your interest to participate in the class action does not entitle you to any compensation.

In this class action, the initial trial, which ran in 2023, involved the Court hearing evidence about whether glyphosate and Roundup Products are carcinogenic and whether use of and/or exposure to these substances increases an individual’s risk of developing NHL.

The initial trial is only about whether Roundup Products can cause cancer in general, not whether it caused your cancer or anyone else’s cancer, how much money you or anyone else may get, or whether Monsanto acted negligently or otherwise broke the law. If we are successful at the initial trial, these matters will be the subject of a further trial.

Several factors are likely to impact whether or not an individual is entitled to compensation, including the findings of the Court concerning the common questions, whether or not an individual’s NHL was because of their use of Roundup products and any loss or damage suffered as a result.

At this early stage, we do not require further information about your claim beyond the information requested through the registration portal. We will notify you when further information may be required.