The various companies that made and sold Zantac over the past 36 years are being sued for allegedly failing to disclose that the popular heartburn drug can produce traces of a chemical that is a possible carcinogen and, as a result, “thousands of people” across the U.S. have developed cancer.
In three separate lawsuits, consumers contended the companies “deliberately refused” to test Zantac, because they knew that ingesting high quantities of the chemical, which is known as NDMA, posed serious health risks. The suits contended that several animal studies “overwhelmingly” linked NDMA to cancer, and also cited epidemiological studies in humans suggesting that NDMA could cause cancer
“Based on recent scientific findings, the levels of NDMA in Zantac are staggering. Considering how many people took Zantac in the U.S. since 1983, we are staring into the face of a public health crisis, and these defendants… are to blame,” said Brent Wisner, a lawyer at the Baum Hedlund law firm, which recently won a verdict against Bayer over allegations its RoundUp weed killer causes cancer.
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