Bayer’s Monsanto unit has reached an agreement of up to $7.25 billion to settle tens of thousands of current and future lawsuits claiming Roundup weed killer caused cancer.
The proposed settlement was filed February 17 in St. Louis Circuit Court. The plan also would set up a long-term claims program funded by capped annual payments over up to 21 years.
The plaintiffs claim they developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other cancers after using Roundup at home or at work. Bayer acquired Roundup in 2018 when it purchased Monsanto for $63 billion.
Roundup is one of the most used weedkillers in the country, and Bayer says decades of research show Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, are safe for human use.
In a statement, Bayer CEO Bill Anderson said the settlement provides an “essential path out of the litigation uncertainty and enables us to devote our full attention to furthering the innovations that lie at the core of our mission: Health for all, Hunger for none.”
The proposed settlement would include most current lawsuits, but it also would require a judge’s approval and a minimum number of plaintiffs to opt in. Bayer doesn’t admit liability or wrongdoing, and it still can back out if too many plaintiffs decline to participate.
Another aspect of the settlement allows people who can show they were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and exposed to Roundup before today to file claims to receive part of the settlement up to 21 years from now.
Bayer already has paid about $10 billion to settle most Roundup lawsuits that were pending as of 2020, and there has been a mixed record of results in cases that have gone to trial.
In related litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review whether some pesticide claims, including some linked to Roundup, are not legally sound because they are preempted under federal pesticide laws.
