According to reports, pharmaceutical and agriculture giant Bayer may stop producing glyphosate unless it gains protection against lawsuits accusing the herbicide of causing cancer.

“The Wall Street Journal says Bayer currently produces about 40 percent of the world’s glyphosate needs, which farmers use to kill weeds that threaten their crops. Over the last ten years, the herbicide has also caught Bayer up in a number of lawsuits,” KFGO reports.

From Precision Risk Management:

But over the past decade, the herbicide has also brought Bayer a wave of litigation, pressuring its share price and costing about $10 billion in payouts to plaintiffs. In early March, Bayer told farmers, suppliers and retailers that it may stop selling Roundup, which would leave U.S. farmers reliant on imported glyphosate from China.

“We’re pretty much reaching the end of the road,” Bayer Chief Executive Bill Anderson said in an interview. “We’re talking months, not years.”

For many American farmers, agriculture without Roundup is like playing baseball without a glove. More than 90% of soybean, corn and cotton crops planted in the U.S. are genetically modified to withstand glyphosate-based weedkiller, according to the Agriculture Department. American farmers apply almost 300 million pounds of glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, to their fields each year, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey.

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Full text:

Bayer warns it may STOP making glyphosate (the key ingredient in Roundup) after $10B+ in lawsuit payouts and thousands more cancer claims—now spreading to Canada.

The company faces huge financial losses, arguing it followed all safety rules, while juries keep awarding massive damages.

Lawmakers are under pressure: shield Bayer from lawsuits or risk a major shakeup in agriculture. The battle over glyphosate isn’t just about science—it’s about who decides what’s safe and who is liable.

WATCH:

Bayer is lobbying state lawmakers to approve legislation shielding pesticide manufacturers from lawsuits if their product labels have EPA approval.

“Bayer/Monsanto are going state by state with these bills, stripping the people of their right to sue for injury. Those sponsoring the bills are going on my sh*t list!” former vice presidential candidate Nicole Shanahan previously said.

From GMO/Toxin Free USA:

Last year, four state legislatures – Iowa, Idaho, Missouri and Florida – introduced bills written by Bayer that would kill the Roundup/cancer lawsuits, now numbering over 170,000, that threaten to bury the company. Thanks to grassroots protest, none of the bills made it past the finish line.

Bayer vowed to restart and expand efforts this year and the company is moving fast. As of today, at least 20 state legislatures have drafted or introduced the Monsanto Protection Act bill, and Bayer has more support this time around.

The Monsanto Protection Act is furthest along in Iowa, where “Senate Study Bill 1051” was introduced on January 28 and passed a Senate subcommittee on February 5. Local groups opposing the bill are calling it the “Cancer Gag Act.” Whatever we all decide to call it, one thing is clear. We must stop this bill.

Iowa has the second-highest rate of new cancer cases in the U.S. and that rate is growing faster than any other state.

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A July 2024 study published in the journal Frontiers in Cancer Control and Society concluded that “the impact of pesticide use on cancer incidence may rival that of smoking” and “counties with higher agricultural productivity, such as the leading corn-producing states of the Midwest, also have increased cancer risk due to pesticide exposure.” The study found the amount of pesticides used on farms was strongly associated with the incidence of many cancers – leukemia; non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; bladder, colon, lung, and pancreatic cancer – not only for farmers and their families, but for entire communities.

Yet, Iowa’s state politicians want to throw their farmers and residents under the bus to protect Bayer-Monsanto’s poison profits. Unconscionable.

Even conventional farmers see the danger ahead: “We’re very worried. Our farmers feel that if they have injuries or illnesses due to their use of a pesticide they should have access to the courts. We just don’t think the playing field should be tilted.” said Aaron Lehman, a corn and soybean farmer and president of the Iowa Farmers Union.

The Des Moines Register reported: Fourth-generation Iowa farmer Seth Watkins from Clarinda said farm chemicals caused life-threatening health risks for his twin daughters when they were born. One of his daughters did not survive. “In 2004, we did not have the data or the understanding of the impact chemicals like atrazine, glyphosate and nitrogen have on birth defects and cancer,” he said. “Today, we know that atrazine is a proven endocrine disruptor and a leading cause of abdominal wall birth defects.” He asked the lawmakers to reject the bill, adding that lawsuits over farm pesticides aren’t filed to make financial gains.

Per Seeking Alpha:

If Bayer pulls back, American farmers would be forced to rely on imports from China or switch to other herbicides — some potentially more harmful or less effective.

Analyst Joel Jackson of BMO Capital Markets said discontinuing Roundup could also diminish the value of Bayer’s proprietary seed technologies, which are designed for glyphosate use.

Compounding the issue, Bayer has struggled to win approval for dicamba, a newer herbicide intended to combat glyphosate-resistant weeds.

To reduce legal liability, Bayer has lobbied lawmakers in multiple states to pass legislation protecting pesticide manufacturers from lawsuits if their product labels are approved by the EPA. In March, Georgia became the first state to pass such a bill — pending the governor’s signature.

Just a week later, a Georgia jury ordered Bayer to pay $2.1 billion in damages. The company plans to appeal and noted that similar rulings have typically been reduced significantly on appeal.

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Critics including attorneys representing tens of thousands of plaintiffs have vowed to challenge the new legal shields in court.

Separately, Bayer again asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the legal framework that has allowed state-level lawsuits to proceed despite the EPA’s assessment that glyphosate doesn’t warrant a cancer warning. A previous attempt to bring the issue before the Court in 2022 was rejected.

Anderson warned that if Bayer discontinues glyphosate, no U.S.-based company is likely to step in due to the legal risks.

He also expressed concern that this legal landscape could dissuade the company from investing in new herbicide technologies altogether, the Journal reported.

 

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