A shock court verdict against Monsanto’s Roundup

IT WAS a battle between David and Goliath. On one side was Dewayne Johnson (pictured, above), a former school caretaker who is terminally ill with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood-cell cancer. On the other was Monsanto, a chemicals giant recently purchased for $63bn by Bayer, a German rival. In the first case of its type, Mr Johnson’s lawyers argued that Roundup, a weedkiller made by Monsanto, had caused his cancer. To the industry’s shock, on August 10th the court decided in Mr Johnson’s favour, ordering Bayer to pay him $289m in damages.

Bayer’s shares abruptly fell by 11% to their lowest level in five years, wiping $11bn off the firm’s value as investors totted up the potential bill from other litigants. Other weedkiller-makers were hit harder still. Shares in Nufarm, an Australian chemicals firm that makes products similar to Roundup, slid by 17%.