Bayer is the current manufacturer of the world’s most widely used crop protection chemical – glyphosate, aka “Roundup.” Glyphosate also happens to be one of the most highly litigated chemicals in the world and an endless string of lawsuits are costing the company a fortune, with the company paying out some $11 billion to settle claims that the herbicide causes cancer. Following a Roundup verdict in late March ordering the company to pay $2 billion in damages, Bayer told U.S. lawmakers it may be forced to stop selling glyphosate in the U.S. unless they can strengthen legal protections against product liability.
Bayer acquired Roundup and all its legal troubles when it bought agrochemical and seed maker Monsanto in 2018 for $66 billion. Bayer CEO Werner Baumann at that time aimed to use the acquisition to turn Bayer into the world’s largest crop-science business. However, within weeks of closing the deal, Bayer lost its first multi-million dollar lawsuit against Roundup and it wasn’t long before the deal was widely viewed as one of the worst in recent history.
To date, Bayer has settled over 100,000 lawsuits based on claims that the glyphosate herbicide causes cancer. According to Bayer, those settlements account for nearly two-thirds of all Roundup claims and they estimate that around 67,000 cases are still ongoing. However, that number has grown from closer to 50,000 at this same time last year as new lawsuits continue to be filed regularly.
Most of the lawsuits hinge on failure-to-warn claims: the allegation that Monsanto, and later Bayer, failed to adequately notify customers of glyphosate’s potential cancer risk. BUT, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not consider glyphosate to be a likely human carcinogen so a label warning is not technically required.
However, plaintiffs are taking Bayer to court by invoking U.S. state rules – there are at least 40 existing local laws regulating pesticides, including glyphosate. Many of these restrictions cite cancer risks, along with other health concerns, that are at odds with the EPA’s official stance.
Bayer sold around $2.8 billion worth of glyphosate in 2024. The company’s average annual Roundup settlement expenses between 2019 and 2023 were over $3 billion. So it seems safe to say that Roundup is a losing business for Bayer and if anything, they owe it to their shareholders to stop the bleeding.
Ending the sale of Roundup in the U.S. altogether is one way to accomplish that goal. Another is to end states’ ability to apply rules that go above and beyond the EPA’s official stance. Bayer has been lobbying lawmakers to block lawsuits based on state laws given that the EPA has repeatedly labelled the product as “safe to use,” as have regulators across the globe.
EPA is said to be considering a rule that could significantly curtail the lawsuits. The changes stem from a petition filed by states attorney generals asking the agency to block any state and local pesticide laws. Bayer is also preparing to again petition the Supreme Court for legal protection, following an unsuccessful attempt in 2022.
Bayer is not the only glyphosate producer in the world but they are the only one that makes the chemical in the U.S. There are generic imports available in the U.S., mostly from China. A report commissioned by Bayer highlights that losing glyphosate would lead to increased production costs — estimated at $1.9 billion annually — and higher food prices due to inflationary pressures. (Sources: Reuters, Planet Tracker, Genetic Literacy Project, The Wall Street Journal)
