Managing the Roundup™ Litigation

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Bayer is pursuing several measures to manage and mitigate the risks of Roundup™ litigation in the U.S. Based on decades of science and worldwide regulatory assessments that continue to support Roundup’s safety and non-carcinogenicity, we are confident that we can bring this litigation to an end.

Measures at-a-glance:

A favorable ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on the federal preemption question could largely end the Roundup™ litigation. The main legal question at issue in many of the company’s appeals is whether state-based failure-to-warn claims are preempted by federal labeling laws regulating crop protection products. The EPA has consistently concluded that glyphosate does not cause cancer and approved the Roundup™ label without a warning and we believe this should prevent such state-based claims from moving forward in court. The company is actively taking steps to apply the favorable appellate ruling on the question of preemption in Schaffner to other Roundup cases and looks forward to presenting its arguments, as fully embraced by the Third Circuit, at trial courts, appellate courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bayer has joined together with a diverse coalition of more than 360 grower and industry groups at the federal level and 85+ supporters of the Modern Ag Alliance, a coalition of agricultural groups at state level, to advocate for the uniformity of labeling laws. Bayer will continue to engage with policymakers to achieve legislative certainty around the force of labeling regulations in the U.S. Federal and state governments should pass legislation which stands by federal labeling laws and honors the rigorous scientific analysis of the safety of agricultural products conducted by the EPA. Farmers rely on Roundup, a critical tool they have used for 50 years and has consistently been found to be safe by independent regulatory bodies worldwide. Without additional legislative certainty, the efforts of the litigation industry threaten to drive up food costs and potentially impact Bayer’s leading R&D programs and other important investments which are essential to solving some of the world’s most important problems.

As of July 15, 2024, 114,000 of approximately 172,000 claims have been resolved or deemed to be ineligible. With a winning record in court, the company is fully confident in its legal strategy and will continue to defend cases at trial based on the overwhelming scientific and regulatory evidence supporting the safety of our glyphosate products. We will consider settling cases only when it is strategically advantageous to the company.

To further reduce future litigation risk, we have transitioned the manufacturing of our glyphosate products for the U.S. residential L&G market to new formulations that have different active ingredients starting in 2023. We have taken this action exclusively to manage litigation risk and not because of any safety concerns. The vast majority of claims in the Roundup litigation have come from residential L&G users, so this step largely eliminates the primary source of future claims. This action does not impact any of our glyphosate-based agriculture or professional products, or Roundup products available worldwide.

A webpage (EPA's Review of Glyphosate Safety | Global (bayer.com)) that hosts links to scientific safety studies on our glyphosate products ensures more transparency and information.

We stand fully behind the safety of our glyphosate products

The measures Bayer is taking are not admissions of legal liability or wrongdoing but are the result of the mass tort system in the U.S. and a lack of clarity regarding the correct interpretation of U.S. labeling laws by courts.

 

We have great sympathy for anyone who suffers from a disease, but at the same time, the extensive body of science continues to show that our products are not responsible for the illnesses alleged in this litigation.

 

For more than 50 years, leading health regulators around the world have repeatedly concluded that our glyphosate products can be used safely, and that glyphosate is not carcinogenic. This includes recent conclusions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the EU’s Assessment Group on Glyphosate (AGG), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), and the leading health authorities in Germany, Australia, Korea, Canada, New Zealand, Brazil, and Japan.

 

Additionally, in July 2024, a judge in the Federal Court of Australia with the aid of a neutral, court-appointed scientific expert and following a scientific conclave process, found in a detailed 322-page opinion that the weight of scientific evidence does not support a link between glyphosate and non-hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).

 

Glyphosate-based herbicides are some of the most thoroughly studied products of their kind, which is one reason so many growers and others continue to rely on these products to help them safely, successfully, and sustainably control problematic weeds.

We are investing and innovating to develop additional weed-control solutions

Growers need to control weeds in order to successfully grow crops. There is no single solution – instead, growers use a range of tools and practices to control weeds. While glyphosate will continue to play a key role in agriculture, we are leading the way in developing additional tools and advancing integrated weed management (IWM).

 

We invest over $2 billion in R&D for farming solutions every year. As part of these efforts, we also announced the discovery of a new breakthrough herbicide molecule, the first of its kind in more than 30 years.

 

As a leader in global agriculture, we know we have a heightened responsibility to support the growers who feed the world and the unique potential to advance farming for the benefit of society and the planet. We are committed to living up to this responsibility.