On Friday, Bayer AG agreed to outline settlement terms with half a dozen law firms representing tens of thousands of plaintiffs claiming that its weedkiller Roundup causes cancer.
A spokesperson for Bayer said the mediation discussions are moving allegiantly under a court order requiring confidentiality, and the company cannot comment on speculation about outcomes, timing, or progress. Ken Feinberg is the court-appointed mediator, who is working closely with Bayer and plaintiffs lawyers to settle the lawsuits.
According to Bayer, based on average analyst predictions, the settlement would be worth about $10 billion.
IARC, considered to be the apex in the field of cancer research, classified glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen.” According to IARC, Roundup is made up of other ingredients that are toxic in themselves, and are also known to increase the toxicity of glyphosate. Monsanto has known this for many years but still refuses to study the link between cancer and Roundup.
Monsanto has a brief history of legal troubles and Glyphosate is just another herbicide of the company to attract lawsuits. Plaintiffs across the U.S. have filed numerous lawsuits. A plaintiff from one of the Roundup lawsuits claims that she worked as a grower’s assistant on a crop field in New York from 1994 to 1998 where Roundup was regularly sprayed indoors and outdoors resulting in chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 2012. She eventually quit the job and is currently seeking reasonable compensation and punitive damages in court.
More than 40,000 product liability lawsuits are consolidated under MDL No. 2741, presided by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
