Bayer has asked a US federal appeals court to reverse a court decision ordering it to pay $25 million to Edwin Hardeman. The California man blamed Monsanto’s glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide for his non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Hardeman told the court at the trial last March that he used Roundup for many years starting in the 1980s to treat poison oak and weeds on his property. His lawyers argued that Monsanto failed to warn consumers of Roundup’s cancer risk and that it concealed damaging evidence from public as well as regulatory authorities. Bayer has rejected all of the allegations.

The original jury verdict in the case – one of three the German group that acquired the former US agribusiness giant in August 2018 has lost – called for Bayer to pay the plaintiff $80 million. In July, however, US District Judge Vince Chhabria reduced the payout to $25 million

While remarking that Monsanto “deserves to be punished,” Chhabria said at the time the higher award was “constitutionally impermissible” because it was nearly 15 times the compensatory damages award – particularly in the absence of evidence showing intentional concealment of a known or obvious safety risk.

In its filing with the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, Bayer said the Hardeman verdict was contradictory to scientific and regulatory finding, and that the “speculative” case should never have made it to a jury trial.

In late October, the former chemical producer now focused on pharmaceuticals and agriculture announced it was facing more than 42,700 from US plaintiffs who alleged that Roundup-caused their cancer. This was double the total of three months earlier.

Bayer is reluctant to let the verdict stand as it moves forward, saying that an appeal could affect the handling of future cases.

Since the Hardeman trial, the new Roundup owner has gained unexpected support from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which said in April that glyphosate is not a carcinogen or a public health risk when used in compliance with current approved labeling and that adding a warning label would contradict federal guidance.

With his announcement in defense of glyphosate, new EPA administrator, Andrew Wheeler, appointed by US president Donald Trump to replace predecessor Scott Pruitt, who tripped over personal financial irregularities, ended months of uncertainty about the agency’s stance on the controversial herbicide.

Wheeler said the EPA would introduce new crop management measures to help farmers use glyphosate “in the most effective and efficient way possible, including pollinator protections.”

US agriculture secretary Sonny Perdue defended the EPA’s position. Citing an argument often used by the industry in favor of chemical crop protection, he said, ”if we are going to feed 10 billion people by 2050, we are going to need all the tools at our disposal, which includes the use of glyphosate.”

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