Glyphosate Suits Can Move Forward
The Supreme Court of the United States rejected an appeal from Bayer AG to shut down thousands of lawsuits over the safety of glyphosate.
Transcript
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Bayer AG over lawsuits challenging the safety of glyphosate - the primary ingredient in the herbicide Roundup. The German pharmaceutical and life sciences company is facing thousands of legal actions from plaintiffs who claim the chemical carries unlabeled health risks and causes cancer. The company has been struggling with the issue since acquiring Monsanto in 2018.
The Court specifically kept a $25 million dollar judgment in place from a California lawsuit. With potentially billions in the balance, Bayer, the world’s largest seed and agricultural chemical company, has set aside $4.5 billion dollars to pay for future litigation and judgment costs. However, Bayer has recently won four trials in state courts over cancer cases brought by glyphosate users.
The World Health Organization has classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans”, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has repeatedly ruled glyphosate to be safe which removes the requirement to place a cancer warning label on the packaging.
The company plans to replace glyphosate with other active ingredients for the residential market, but the chemical will still be available for agricultural and commercial uses.
For Market to Market, I’m Peter Tubbs.