German chemical giant Bayer is lobbying to secure immunity from Roundup cancer liability, according to a ZeroHedge report.
The company has faced a series of lawsuits linked to its Roundup weedkiller brand, which came with its US$63bn acquisition of US agrochemical company Monsanto in 2018, the 6 June report said.
Bayer has repeatedly said that decades of studies had shown Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, were safe for human use.
To date, Bayer had paid out US$11bn in settlements and was now pushing state legislatures to pass bills that would block “failure-to-warn” claims tied to glyphosate, the report said.
In Missouri, where Bayer’s North American Crop Science headquarters is located, the company increased its lobbyists from four to nine directly before the introduction of Senate Bill 14 and its companion House Bill 544, ZeroHedge wrote.
Both bills were aimed at shielding Monsanto-Bayer from lawsuits claiming Roundup causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the report said.
With 40,000 cases still pending in Missouri alone, Bayer’s strategy is to convince lawmakers that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved labels, which omit cancer warnings, should pre-empt state litigation, according to the report.
Against this backdrop, Bayer has indicated it might exit the glyphosate business, according to a 10 June AgNet West report.
Company executives, including CEO Bill Anderson, have told investors that the ongoing litigation linked to the herbicide Roundup could force a major strategic retreat, the report said.
Bayer has removed glyphosate from consumer herbicide products sold in the USA but has said that litigation could undermine its ability to provide glyphosate-based products to farmers and other professional users, AgNet West wrote.
