First modification:
The Court dismissed an appeal by the German company Bayer, with which the multinational could have removed tens of thousands of complaints from people who claim that one of its iconic products, the herbicide Roundup, causes cancer. After this decision, the company could face millions in compensation.
With the decision of the high court, it also ratified a previous sentence that determined that the group had to pay 25 million dollars to Edwin Hardeman, who assures that the cancer he suffers is due to the use he made of the herbicide Roundup for 26 years and that during This time the company never warned that the product could be carcinogenic.
Bayer had asked the Supreme Court to review the verdict in the Hardeman case, a 9th US Circuit ruling from May 2021.
Hardeman had regularly used Roundup for years at his home in Northern California before he was diagnosed with a form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. As Hardeman has denounced, his illness was generated because the pharmaceutical giant’s herbicides are composed of glyphosate.
Bayer said in a statement that it “respectfully disagrees” with the court’s decision and said it is “fully prepared to manage the risk of litigation associated with possible future lawsuits in the United States.”
The Supreme Court action dealt a heavy blow to the German company, as the company moves to limit its legal liability in thousands of cases involving similar claims. The ruling could have serious consequences for Bayer, the subject of more than 31,000 similar complaints (a figure that could increase), in addition to those for which it reached an agreement.
This case means a precedent for millions of similar complaints
Hardeman’s case marked a new chapter for the company, which has sought ways to delay the complaint. To dismiss the sentence in favor of the citizen, in 2019 the company appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, challenging the sentence and alleging that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers that the use of Roundup does not deserve a special warning against cancer.
However, last week the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, located in San Francisco, California, asked the EPA to reconsider the use of the herbicide. The main active ingredient in Roundup is glyphosate, classified as “probable carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Bayer has lost three lawsuits in which Roundup users have received tens of millions of dollars for their claims. He has also won four trials.
The company has indicated in its March annual report that it had resolved some 107,000 cases out of a total of 138,000. It even reached a settlement agreement with plaintiffs in June 2020, but failed to win court approval for a separate agreement on how to handle future cases.
The company prepares a budget for future demands
Roundup-related lawsuits have dogged Bayer since it acquired Monsanto (of US origin) in 2018 for $63 billion, some 59.6 billion euros. Since then he has been involved in multiple lawsuits related to herbicide claims in the United States.
In July 2021, Bayer reported having earmarked $4.5 billion in the event of an unfavorable Supreme Court ruling or in the event that the judges refused to consider its appeal. The provision was added to the 11,600 million that it previously reserved for settlements and litigation on the matter.
It has also emerged that Bayer plans to replace glyphosate in herbicides for the US residential market for non-professional gardeners with other active ingredients to further avoid future lawsuits.
With Reuters and AFP
#Supreme #Court #Rejects #Bayers #Appeal #Roundup #Lawsuits