Seed and agribusiness giant Bayer will pay up to $10.9 billion to resolve lawsuits that accuse its Roundup herbicide of causing cancer, and an additional $400 million to settle litigation claiming crop damage caused by its dicamba weedkiller from 2015 to 2020. Bayer announced the actions on Wednesday but excepted three Roundup jury decisions it is appealing and a dicamba decision it may appeal. Juries made large awards to plaintiffs in each of the four cases.
Roundup contains glyphosate, the most widely used herbicide in the world. The World Health Organization’s cancer agency says glyphosate is probably carcinogenic to humans. Bayer says it is safe to use, as does the EPA.
Under the terms of the settlement, Bayer said it would pay $8.8 billion to $9.6 billion to resolve approximately 75 percent of the 125,000 cases filed against Roundup and to create a mechanism to address future litigation. An additional $1.25 billion will be reserved for a separate class of future lawsuits that would be guided by a science panel that would determine whether Roundup causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and, if so, at what level of exposure. If the panel says there is no link, plaintiffs would not be allowed to claim one. The panel is expected to take several years to reach a conclusion.
Kenneth Feinberg, the court-appointed mediator, said the “Roundup agreements are designed as a constructive and reasonable resolution to a unique litigation.” Bayer chief executive Werner Baumann said the settlement was “the right action at the right time. It is financially reasonable when viewed against the significant financial risks of continued, multiyear litigation and the related impacts to our reputation and to our business.”
“No financial settlement can make good the pain, suffering, and lives lost to Monsanto’s cancer-causing Roundup, but this settlement at least provides some small restitution and, more importantly, will help dissuade others from putting themselves at similar risk by using this hazardous product,” said Bill Freese of the Center for Food Safety, an environmental group. Bayer purchased Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018.
In a statement, Bayer said it “expects a contribution from its co-defendant,” BASF, toward the dicamba settlement. In order to collect, claimants will be required to provide proof that their crop yields suffered from contact with dicamba. Four companies sell versions of dicamba for spraying on GE soybeans and cotton. Critics say dicamba evaporates too easily and the herbicidal gas drifts onto neighboring fields to damage susceptible crops.
In the three Roundup cases, juries awarded the plaintiffs from $25 million to $87 million apiece. In the dicamba case, a federal jury awarded a Missouri peach farm, Bader Farms, $265 million.