Bayer Settles Cancer Patient Lawsuits for Roundup Herbicide in $ 10 Billion Settlement

06/25/2020 Health, World


Settling the Roundup cases in the United States “will bring the closure of approximately 75% of Roundup’s current litigation involving approximately 125,000 generally filed and unsubmitted claims,” ​​Bayer said in a press release.

“The company will make a payment of $ 8.8 billion to $ 9.6 billion to resolve the current Roundup litigation, including an allocation expected to cover unresolved claims, and $ 1.25 billion to support a separate class agreement to address potential future litigation. “

Possible future cases will be governed by a class agreement that is subject to court approval, the company said.

Bayer said the settlement agreements “do not contain an admission of liability or irregularities.”

Of the thousands of lawsuits filed in federal or state courts, only three have gone to trial: those of cancer patients Dewayne Johnson, Edwin Hardeman, and Alva and Alberta Pilliod.
Cancer patient who received $ 289 million in a Monsanto trial says it will take $ 78 million instead

In each of those trials, jurors sided with the plaintiffs, saying Roundup was a substantial contributing factor in the plaintiffs’ cancer cause.

And in each case, jurors awarded the plaintiffs tens of millions (or billions) of dollars, though the judges later reduced the award amounts, saying they were too excessive.

Bayer has appealed the verdicts in each of those three lawsuits. On Wednesday, the company said those cases “will continue during the appeals process and are not covered by the settlement.”

“It is important for the company to continue these cases as appeals will provide legal guidance in the future,” said Bayer.

As for Roundup, Bayer said it will continue to sell the herbicide because it supports previous claims that it is safe when used as directed.
Former NFL player Merril Hoge is one of 18,400 plaintiffs who sued, saying Roundup caused cancer.

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients began suing Monsanto in hundreds after a 2015 World Health Organization report suggested that glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup, could cause cancer.

The report, from the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, said that glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans”.
But Monsanto has long maintained that Roundup does not cause cancer, and said the IARC report is largely outpaced by studies that say glyphosate is safe.

“Leading health regulators worldwide have repeatedly concluded that Bayer’s glyphosate-based herbicides can be used safely as directed and that glyphosate is non-carcinogenic … including more than 100 studies ( la) EPA considered relevant to its cancer risk analysis, and more than 800 safety studies generally submitted to regulators, “Bayer said.

The American Cancer Society said that with the majority of lymphoma cases, the cause is unknown.
The EPA says that glyphosate does not cause cancer. Others are not so sure

But critics question whether Monsanto had a cozy relationship with regulators, such as the Environmental Protection Agency.

A CNN investigation in 2017 showed internal Monsanto emails discussing communications with an EPA official.
In a 2015 email, a Monsanto executive wrote that an EPA official at the time offered to help stop another agency’s review of glyphosate, saying, “If I can kill this, I should get a medal.”
A Monsanto spokeswoman responded at the time that the company had never paid, given gifts, or done anything else to win favor with the EPA.

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