Bayer says legal woes could force it to pull weedkiller

France24 | AFP ^ | April 25, 2025

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Berlin (AFP) – German chemicals giant Bayer said Friday it could be forced to pull its Roundup weedkiller from the market if it is not able to limit simmering legal troubles.

"We're nearing a point where the litigation industry could force us to even stop selling this vital product," CEO Bill Anderson said at Bayer's annual general meeting.

Bayer has been dogged by lawsuits linked to Roundup since it acquired the US manufacturer Monsanto in a blockbuster deal in 2018.

Claimants have alleged that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, causes blood cancers but Bayer says scientific studies and regulatory approvals show that the weedkiller is safe.

Bayer has battled to draw a line under Roundup litigation, spending more than $10 billion (8.8 billion euros) to date to settle suits alleging that Bayer failed to disclose health risks.

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TOPICS: Agriculture; Business/Economy; Gardening; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: bayer; goodnews; roundup; weeds

[Oldeconomybuyer]

[Nervous Tick]

Thanks for the reminder — I need to buy another ten gallons or so of the concentrate. I use it sparingly, but when you need glyphosate, you need glyphosate. A couple gallons will last the rest of my life, the rest will be good for barter.

[Does so]

Bayer didn’t understand American lawfare.

[jonatron]

Roundup may be appropriate for evil plants like poison ivy you can't touch. Its use should be minimized.

White vinegar works well against most weeds.

Glyphosate is the food supply, and that can't be good.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is sometimes used as a desiccant in wheat, meaning it's sprayed on wheat plants before harvest to speed up drying and even out ripening. This practice, known as desiccation, can help farmers harvest crops earlier and in more favorable conditions, especially in regions with short growing seasons or wet conditions. Glyphosate is typically applied one to two weeks before harvest, when the wheat grain moisture content is below 30%. Glyphosate kills the plant tissue, effectively stopping the plant from drawing moisture from the grain. The USA applies glyphosate to wheat primarily for weed control in no-till systems (30% of acres) with pre-harvest desiccation being rare (2% of acres). Canada relies heavily on glyphosate for pre-harvest desiccation (90–95% of acres), driven by short, wet growing seasons. This leads to higher residue levels in Canadian wheat products, though milling reduces exposure in both countries. Both Canada and USA deem residues safe, but Canada faces greater public and environmental scrutiny. Economic and climatic factors drive these differences, with Canada’s practices more entrenched due to agricultural necessity. It will be interesting to see if Kennedy wades into this area of public health.

[jonatron]

TYPO:
That was meant to be: Glyphosate is in the food supply, and that can't be good.

[BobL]

“Bayer has been dogged by lawsuits linked to Roundup since it acquired the US manufacturer Monsanto in a blockbuster deal in 2018.”

Is Bayer as STUPID as they appear, buying into this liability? I guess so. Might as well buy the melted-down reactors at Fukushima while they’re at it.

[BobL]

“Bayer didn’t understand American lawfare.”

That’s what American law firms are for...but I guess Bayer wanted to ‘save money’ on legal costs.

...that was $10B ago.

[normbal]

Oh yes they did.

Bayer - from BASF, Bayerische Aniline und Soda Fabrik (Bavarian Dye and Soda - sodium carbonate - Factory) is VERY conservative regarding lawsuits.

They produced a highly effective and relatively safe statin in the 1990s- early 2000’s marketed worldwide BAYCOL was extremely potent, requiring less than a tenth of the amount of medicine for similar LDL reductions.

UNfortunately, when combined with triglyceride-lowing agents like LOPID, some fatalities occurred due to rhabdomyolyis and kidney failure.

This WAS a known risk of this combination, it WAS in the product literature.
I had a patient who almost died from this as his cardiologist decided to prescribe LOPID without telling me, warning the patient of the risks or doing any lab work before or after starting the meds. Kid was in his early 20’s and spent a few weeks in the hospital recovering.

Rather than face US lawfare where even “winning” can cost tens of millions of dollars in legal fees, Bayer took the product off the market preemptively around 2003, IIRC.

Bayer also has some unfortunate associations, IIRC, with some chemicals produced for the Third Reich’s “special population” problem, I think. I’d have to dig into this a bit. But then, ALL corporations were called upon to serve the Reich and their Leader… or else.

[P8riot]

The problem isn’t just Roundup, the majority of weedkillers use glyphosate as the active ingredient. They will never pull it off the market, it will be like cigarettes. They will put additional warnings on it and regulate its sale and use and the price will increase for everything it touches.

[Ciaphas Cain]

I use a cocktail of vinegar, epsom salt, and a bit of dishwashing liquid. Makes the driveway smell like pickles for awhile but it’s pretty effective.

[small farm girl]

IIRC, the study they have been using includes not only glyphosphate, but 24D, Dacthal and 245T, all common lawn care products. Not defending any of them, just saying that’s not the scientific method.

[Nifster]

Zyklon B

[Smittie]

It would be best for the environment to take all such poisons off the market. They’re largely responsible for the bee die-off we are experiencing. We need bees more than weed free lawns.

[dynoman]

We have a bottle of roundup here that has zero glyphosate in it.

[Bigg Red]

Glyphosate is the food supply, and that can’t be good.

^^^^^
Exactly.

For poispn ivy, BTW, my method is to use a plastic grocery store like a huge mitten while uprooting the plant. Then I can just turn the bag inside out with the plant inside while not coming into direct contact with it.

[Bigg Red]

Yipes! I did not know that.

[dynoman]

Read post 15.

[logi_cal869]

There is plenty of research backing the need for unbiased study. Additionally, my cousin has bone marrow cancer with no history in the family...and lives smack in the middle of an ag area which uses the poison.

F ‘em, and the regulators who looked the other way for decades should eat lead.

[logi_cal869]

It’s the lack of scientific application to the use of chemicals by those we charge to protect our food supply that’s the problem.

The corruption runs high.