Since the takeover in 2018 of the American agrochemist Monsanto, producer of the herbicide Roundup accused of being carcinogenic, Bayer has faced a series of proceedings in the United States .
Eight out of the 10 provinces in Canada have some form of restriction on the use of non-essential cosmetic pesticides, including glyphosate.
Bayer plans to replace all glyphosate-based products in the United States residential market (lawn and garden) with non-glyphosate alternatives starting in 2023.
Farmers who use Roundup and its glyphosate active ingredient in their crop production programs will see no formulation changes.
“This is exclusively geared at managing litigation risk (from glyphosate-cancer lawsuits) and not because of any safety concerns,” says Werner Bauman, Bayer CEO.
Bayer yesterday provided an update on its five-point plan to address future Roundup™ litigation risk after its May 27th decision to withdraw from the national class process.
The company states that they are now in more control of important aspects of the risk mitigation process and has sketched out two basic scenarios going forward to provide a path to closure of this litigation. The first scenario is based on obtaining a favorable decision by the United States Supreme Court on a cross-cutting issue like federal preemption which would effectively and largely end the U.S. Roundup™ litigation.
The second scenario assumes that the Supreme Court either declines to hear the Hardeman case or issues a ruling in favor of plaintiff – in that case the company would activate its own claims administration program.
Bayer officials stated the firm is also open to settlement discussion to resolve Roundup litigation claims and bring an end to litigation and liability risk.
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