FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2018 file photo, plaintiff DeWayne Johnson, a school groundskeeper who says Roundup weed-killer caused his cancer, leaves a courtroom in San Francisco. Agribusiness giant Monsanto is appealing a $78 million verdict in favor of a dying California man who said the company's widely used Roundup weed killer was a major factor in his cancer. The company filed a notice of appeal Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, in San Francisco Superior Court challenging the August jury verdict in favor of Johnson. (AP Photo/Paul Elias, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2018 file photo, plaintiff DeWayne Johnson, a school groundskeeper who says Roundup weed-killer caused his cancer, leaves a courtroom in San Francisco. Agribusiness giant Monsanto is appealing a $78 million verdict in favor of a dying California man who said the company's widely used Roundup weed killer was a major factor in his cancer. The company filed a notice of appeal Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, in San Francisco Superior Court challenging the August jury verdict in favor of Johnson. (AP Photo/Paul Elias, File)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Agribusiness giant Monsanto on Tuesday appealed a $78 million verdict in favor of a dying California man who said the company’s widely used Roundup weed killer was a major factor in his cancer.

The company filed a notice of appeal in San Francisco Superior Court challenging a jury verdict in favor of DeWayne Johnson. In August, the jury unanimously found that Roundup caused Johnson’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and awarded him $289 million.

Last month, Judge Suzanne Bolanos slashed that award to $78 million. Monsanto had sought a new trial or judgment in its favor.

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“We continue to believe that the liability verdict and reduced damage award are not supported by the evidence at trial or the law,” Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in June, said in a statement.

Bayer said none of the science presented at trial supported the conclusion that Roundup was a substantial cause of Johnson’s cancer.

An email to a spokeswoman for Johnson’s attorneys was not immediately returned.

Johnson, now 46, sprayed Roundup and a similar product at his job as a pest control manager at a San Francisco Bay Area school district, according to his attorneys.

He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2014 at 42, and his doctor testified that he has less than three years to live.

Monsanto is facing thousands of similar lawsuits that claim glyphosate — the active ingredient in Roundup — causes cancer.

Many government regulators have rejected a link between glyphosate and cancer. Monsanto says hundreds of studies have established that glyphosate is safe.