JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Lawyers for pesticide maker Bayer and cancer patients announced a $7.25 billion settlement Tuesday to resolve thousands of U.S. lawsuits alleging the company failed to warn people that its popular herbicide Roundup could cause cancer.
The settlement was approved by the U.S. Supreme Court. prepare to listen to the discussion In April, it criticized Bayer’s argument that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of Roundup without a cancer warning should invalidate claims filed in state court. That incident It is not affected by the proposed settlement.
But the settlement eliminates some of the risk of an eventual Supreme Court ruling. Even if the Supreme Court rules in Bayer’s favor, patients will be guaranteed to receive their settlement money. And if the high court rules against it, Bayer will be protected from potentially greater costs.
Bayer AG, headquartered in Germany, Acquires Roundup maker Monsanto in 2018 disputed claims that glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, can cause non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. But the company warned that rising legal costs threaten its ability to continue selling the product in the U.S. agricultural market.
“Litigation has plagued the company for years, but this settlement clears the way for the company to shut down,” Bayer CEO Bill Anderson said Tuesday.
The proposed settlement was filed in St. Louis Circuit Court in Missouri, home of Bayer’s North American Crop Science division. Many of the lawsuits It has been brought in. The settlement still requires court approval.
The amount of settlement payments to sick people will change.
Approximately 200,000 Roundup-related claims It was done against Bayer. This includes more than 125,000 plaintiffs who have filed lawsuits since 2015, according to the settlement documents. Very few cases have been tried by juries, with 13 verdicts for Bayer and 11 for the plaintiffs, including $2.1 billion in damages. by a jury in georgia last year. Other cases have already been resolved through separate settlements, including the two most recent settlements, which will address about 77,000 claims, according to court documents.
The new proposed nationwide settlement is intended to address most of the remaining lawsuits, as well as additional lawsuits filed in the coming years by people exposed to Roundup before Tuesday. Bayer said it reserves the right to cancel the settlement if too many plaintiffs do not participate in it. However, Bayer did not say how many opt-outs would be required.
The agreement calls for Bayer to pay up to $7.25 billion annually into a special fund for up to 21 years. The amount an individual will receive depends on how they use Roundup, their age at diagnosis, and the severity of their non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
According to the proposed settlement, agricultural, industrial and turf workers exposed to Roundup for long periods of time and diagnosed with a progressive disease before age 60 will receive an average of $165,000. Meanwhile, residential Roundup users between the ages of 60 and 77 who are diagnosed with a mild illness will receive an average of $20,000. And those diagnosed at age 78 and older will receive an average of $10,000.
“While the settlement cannot erase the diagnosis, this agreement is intended to ensure that both today’s and tomorrow’s patients receive meaningful compensation,” said attorney Christopher Seeger, who represents current claimants under the settlement.
Whether that compensation makes sense for patients remains to be seen. Matt Clement, an attorney who represents about 280 Roundup plaintiffs, said he was surprised by the proposed settlement and expected many clients to opt out.
Mr Clement said the proposed payments were “far too low”.
Bayer sided with Trump in court
Because of the lawsuit, Bayer has already discontinued the use of glyphosate in Roundup sold in the U.S. residential lawn and garden market. However, glyphosate remains in crops. It is designed for use with genetically modified seeds that can withstand the deadly effects of herbicides, allowing farmers to till less and produce more while protecting the soil.
Although some studies link glyphosate to cancer, the EPA says it is unlikely to be carcinogenic to humans when used as directed. Roundup’s federally approved label does not include any cancer warnings.
Bayer argues that federal pesticide law preempts states from adopting additional labels on products and therefore bars lawsuits for failure to warn under state law. Bayer is making its case to the Supreme Court on appeal of a Missouri case that awarded $1.25 million to a man who developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after spraying Roundup in a St. Louis community garden.
President Donald Trump’s administration has intervened on Beyer’s behalf, reversing the position of former President Joe Biden’s administration and putting him at odds with some of Beyer’s supporters. Agenda to Make America Healthy Again They oppose giving the company the legal immunity it seeks.
At the same time, the company Lobbying state legislatures To protect pesticide manufacturers from state failure to warn lawsuits if their products comply with federal labeling requirements. North Dakota became first The state is expected to enact such a law last April. Georgia is like this second state To do so in May.