Monsanto’s pesticides and herbicides are used across the country. Now, Monsanto faces a lawsuit alleging that it not only knew of the cancer risks associated with it’s popular herbicide, Roundup, but that it also worked diligently to keep these cancer risks hidden.

The plaintiff is 46-year old DeWayne Johnson who worked as a groundskeeper in California for three years. His job required him to regularly apply many treatments of Monsanto’s herbicides on various properties.

After just two years, however, this otherwise healthy man was diagnosed with cancer and according to Johnson’s physician, most of his body was covered in lesions. While he has seen some improvement thanks to drug treatment, Johnson is often too weak to even leave his bed. 

Johnson filed his case at San Francisco county’s superior court, where Judge Curtis Karnow issued an order stating that jurors should not only consider scientific evidence, but also allegations that Monsanto hid the dangerous health risks of their products. 

Karnow wrote, “The internal correspondence noted by Johnson could support a jury finding that Monsanto has long been aware of the risk that its glyphosate-based herbicides are carcinogenic…but has continuously sought to influence the scientific literature to prevent its internal concerns from reaching the public sphere and to bolster its defenses in products liability actions.”

Johnson is not the only one bringing Monsanto to court. Approximately 4,000 other individuals have sued the global seed and chemical company due to cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), too.