Bayer announces five-point plan to effectively address potential future Roundup™ claims

Leverkusen, May 27, 2021 – Bayer announced today a series of actions it plans to implement following the denial of the motion to preliminarily approve the Roundup™ class settlement agreement, designed to address potential future litigation, by Judge Vince Chhabria of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The new package of measures, which combine a number of legal and commercial actions, is designed to help the company achieve a level of risk mitigation that is comparable to the previously proposed national class solution.

The court’s decision closes the door on an MDL court-supervised national class solution to manage potential future litigation, which would have been the fairest, most efficient mechanism for all parties. Still, we have legal and commercial options that together will achieve a similar result in mitigating future litigation risk, and we will pursue them as quickly as possible. Significantly, the weight of scientific evidence and the conclusions of all expert regulators worldwide continue to support the safety of glyphosate-based herbicides. Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in which it affirmed once again that glyphosate ‘poses no human-health risks of concern.’ Thus, these actions are being taken exclusively to manage litigation risk and not because of any safety concerns.

The five-point plan includes:

1. Creation and promotion of a new website with scientific studies relevant to Roundup’s™ safety, and a request that EPA approves corresponding language on Roundup™ labels. This will include a reference link to the label for all Roundup™ products that will take consumers and professional users to a website the company will maintain and promote containing scientific studies relevant to the safety concerns at issue in the litigation. Bayer intends to create and maintain this website and promote it to all customer audiences regardless of whether EPA ultimately approves the label addition. Importantly, this website will not make any claims or draw conclusions about the safety of Roundup™; instead, in the interest of transparency and accessibility, it would provide a one-stop resource for consumers and professional users to a significant body of scientific study to help them make their own decisions about their use of the products.

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