Bayer Agrees to $7.25B Roundup Settlement Plan

Agrochemical maker Bayer and attorneys for cancer patients announced a proposed $7.25 billion settlement Tuesday to resolve thousands of US lawsuits alleging the company failed to warn people that its popular weedkiller Roundup could cause cancer.

• The proposed settlement comes as the US Supreme Court is preparing to hear arguments on Bayer's assertion that the US Environmental Protection Agency's approval of Roundup without a cancer warning should invalidate claims filed in state courts, the AP reports. That case would not be affected by the proposed settlement. But the settlement would eliminate some of the risk from an eventual and uncertain Supreme Court ruling—both for Bayer and for patients seeking damages.

• Germany-based Bayer, which acquired Roundup maker Monsanto in 2018, disputes the assertion that the weedkiller's key ingredient, glyphosate, can cause non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. But the company has warned that mounting legal costs are threatening its ability to continue selling the product in US agricultural markets.
• "Litigation uncertainty has plagued the company for years, and this settlement gives the company a road to closure," Bayer CEO Bill Anderson said Tuesday.
• The proposed settlement was filed in St. Louis Circuit Court in Missouri, home to Bayer's North America crop science division and the state where many of the lawsuits have been brought. The settlement still needs the court's approval.
• Bayer has already paid out more than $10 billion to settle around 130,000 Roundup claims, leaving 60,000 outstanding, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company's shares rose around 7% after it announced the settlement proposal Tuesday.