Bayer AG recently proposed a $2 billion compensation cap for future claims against its product Roundup. Plaintiffs have accused Bayer of causing cancer via the popular weedkiller used by farmers and home gardeners.
Founded in 1863, the German-based multinational pharmaceutical and life sciences company is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical firms, with aspirin its most famous creation.
Roundup has been under scrutiny for safety issues since 2018 when Bayer purchased Monsanto Co., the famous weed killer manufacturer. Bayer has been battling court cases ever since in courts brought by sick plaintiffs.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers requested a compensation program of between $5000 and $200,000 for future claimants who contract non-Hodgkin lymphoma after using Roundup. The American Cancer Society describes non-Hodgkin lymphoma (also known as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, NHL, or sometimes just lymphoma), as “cancer that starts in white blood cells called lymphocytes, which are part of the body’s immune system.”
Since lymphoma affects the body’s lymph system, it is often fatal. 20,720 people will die from non-Hodgkin lymphoma this year from this form of cancer.
In California, Bayer agreed in June 2020 to pay $9.6 billion to settle multiple existing Roundup cases, including sick plaintiffs, but still denies any link between the weed killer and cancer.
However, the 2020 agreement did not apply to any future lawsuits. With more cases still being filed, the new deal by Bayer would apply to any plaintiffs who have not yet filed a claim with an attorney.
At first, the total payout agreement was at $1.3 billion, but Bayer added another $750,000 to bring the total payout number to $2 billion.
The new Bayer pre-emptive payout is available to anyone in the future who claims Roundup caused their non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Claimants can apply to participate in the new settlement. Each plaintiff will receive part of the compensation depending upon their illness, age, proof of Roundup usage, and more.
The settlement fund lasts four years and is renewable. Individuals may also sue Bayer on their own, separate and beyond the class action lawsuit.
Currently, Roundup is available in stores worldwide. Under the new agreement, Bayer would include a link on each label to a website with information about glyphosate, the chemical used in Roundup linked to cancer.
A study in Science Direct reports people using the weedkiller with glyphosate will have a forty-one percent higher risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The herbicide/weed killer Roundup, which contains the active ingredient glyphosate, has been banned in several countries because the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARV) found glyphosate to be “probably carcinogenic to humans.” Concurrently, under California’s Proposition 65, also known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, Roundup... Read More »
German biotech and pharmaceutical company Bayer has agreed to pay $698 million to end a lawsuit the state brought forward in 2018. The original lawsuit filed in state court accuses agricultural giant Monsanto of allegedly polluting Oregon waterways and land areas through a class of toxic compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls, or... Read More »
A jury has reached a verdict that would require pharmaceutical giant Bayer to pay $62 million to students and others in Monroe, Washington’s Sky Valley Education Center. The suit was brought by two parents, four former students, and one other adult who details having spent an excess of time at... Read More »
When Bayer purchased Monsanto in 2018, they could not have predicted the legal hurricanes that would follow. Just weeks after the purchase, a jury in California awarded Dewayne Johnson, a groundskeeper at a school where he used Roundup, $289 million. They found that glyphosate in the product caused his non-Hodgkin’s... Read More »
