Bayer is weighing whether to stop producing glyphosate-based herbicides as it battles tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging its popular weedkiller Roundup causes cancer.
Carey Gillam reports for The New Lede.
In short:
- Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, has already settled 114,000 cancer claims tied to Roundup and faces roughly 67,000 more. A recent $611 million appellate court loss and a $2 billion jury verdict have intensified the company’s legal and financial strain.
- Company officials are lobbying for state and federal legislation to shield pesticide makers from liability and are also appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that federal pesticide regulations preempt state failure-to-warn claims.
- The company has removed glyphosate from consumer herbicides in the U.S. but warns that ongoing litigation could jeopardize its ability to continue supplying the chemical to professional agricultural users.
Key quote:
“Bayer made one of the worst business decisions in history by buying Monsanto and all the baggage that came with it. Now they’re trying to offload the liability onto the backs of their customers. It’s one of the most shameless corporate schemes I’ve ever witnessed.”
— Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity
Why this matters:
Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the world, applied to everything from suburban lawns to industrial-scale farms. But it has long been entangled in questions about its safety. Scientists have found associations between glyphosate exposure and cancer, especially non-Hodgkin lymphoma, prompting intense scrutiny of Monsanto’s historical handling of the chemical’s health risks. While regulators like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have concluded the compound is “not likely” to cause cancer in humans, court cases have revealed internal Monsanto documents discussing ghostwritten studies and efforts to manage public perception. The tension between state and federal regulatory authority is now central to Bayer’s defense, as the company claims it cannot be held liable for failing to warn users when federal agencies haven’t mandated such warnings.
Related: Agricultural pesticide exposure linked to childhood cancers, study says
