Bayer settlement in Roundup cancer lawsuits tops $10 billion

After more than one year of negotiations, Bayer AG has agreed to pay as much as $10.9 billion to settle nearly 100,000 U.S. lawsuits that claimed the German drug and pesticide giant’s popular Roundup weedkiller caused cancer.

In a statement issued Wednesday, Bayer said the settlement represents about 75% of the 125,000 filed and unfiled claims the company inherited with its $63 billion takeover of Monsanto Co. in 2018, Reuters reported.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday’s deal in no way changes Bayer’s view that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is safe and does not cause cancer.

The settled cases over Roundup and other glyphosate-based weedkillers account for about 95% of those currently set for trial, Reuters reported.

“The Roundup settlement is the right action at the right time for Bayer to bring a long period of uncertainty to an end,” Bayer Chief Executive Werner Baumann said. “Unfortunately, we have to pay an awful lot of money for a product which is perfectly regulated.”

The company intends to continue selling the herbicide and did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, the Journal reported.

Cox Media Group