Judge to reassess $80 million award in Monsanto cancer case

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal judge will reconsider a jury's $80 million damage award to a cancer victim who used Monsanto's Roundup weed-killer.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria said at a hearing Tuesday that he will reduce but not entirely eliminate punitive damages for what he called the company's "reprehensible" conduct. He said the evidence at the trial showed "Monsanto not really caring whether its products cause cancer."

In March, a jury found that glyphosate, an active ingredient in Roundup, was a likely cause of 70-year-old Edwin Hardeman's diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Hardeman was diagnosed with the cancer in 2015 after spraying the product on his California property for more than 26 years. Monsanto is appealing the verdict.

Thousands of similar lawsuits against Monsanto are pending in state and federal courts.