by Jason Hancock
Roundup weed killing products are offered for sale at a home improvement store on May 14, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois (Scott Olson/Getty Images).
German chemical giant Bayer has agreed to pay $7.25 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits alleging its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer.
The proposed settlement — which must be approved by a St. Louis court — would compensate people nationwide who were exposed to Roundup products and diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, as well as those who are diagnosed in the future.
“When an innocent person is harmed through no fault of their own, accountability is not optional — it is necessary,” said Eric Holland, a St. Louis attorney for plaintiffs. “While no financial recovery can reverse a diagnosis or turn back time, this settlement will provide substantial support and offer stability to the families who need it most.”
Bayer has faced an avalanche of litigation contending that glyphosate — an ingredient patented by Missouri-based Monsanto in 1971 — can cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and that Roundup labels failed to warn users about the risk.
Bayer acquired Monsanto in 2018 and operates its U.S. agricultural business as Bayer Crop Science.
The company has paid about $11 billion to settle nearly 100,000 Roundup lawsuits, with roughly 61,000 still pending, according to a website that tracks the litigation. Bayer has already stopped making glyphosate-based Roundup for home use and, in September, said it was seeking regulatory approval for a new herbicide to replace glyphosate-based Roundup for agricultural and commercial use in the U.S., Europe, Canada, Australia and Brazil.