Bayer stock surges on report it is open to glyphosate settlement.
An $8 billion settlement would be well below estimates from analysts, who predict the legal tangle could end up costing well over 10 billion euros.
A wave of lawsuits over the flagship herbicide batters Bayer after its mammoth takeover of US seeds and pesticides maker Monsanto for $63 billion last year, based on its active ingredient glyphosate.
Juries in several lower courts granted plaintiffs significant damages awards, although judges later reduced them vowed to appeal — saying the weight of scientific evidence is against glyphosate causing cancer when used appropriately.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers have often argued that classed glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic”. The lawyers based this on a 2015 finding by the World Health Organization arm IARC.
But this was a finding in absolute terms, rather than one related to typical levels of exposure.
Bayer points to long-term studies of thousands of glyphosate users, which it says show no increased cancer risk.
AFP / B-Concept Group
