SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A jury has awarded $289 million in damages to a dying man who claims Monsanto’s popular Roundup weed killer gave him cancer, and his lawyer says the verdict could bolster thousands of similar lawsuits.

A state Superior Court jury in San Francisco found Friday that Roundup contributed to Dewayne Johnson’s cancer and Monsanto should have provided a health warning label.

Johnson, who’s 46, said after the verdict that he thanks jurors from the bottom of his heart. His was the first case filed by a cancer patient against Monsanto to reach trial and his attorneys say it could be a precedent for some 4,000 other pending cases around the country.

Monsanto denies that Roundup is carcinogenic and says it will appeal.

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