Bayer leads a legal battle over glyphosate in the US Supreme Court

August 16, 2021 | 6:56 pm

Bayer has appealed to the US Supreme Court seeking to overturn an appeals court ruling in favor of a plaintiff who accused the German group that the herbicide containing glyphosate caused cancer.

A few days ago, the German drugmaker lost an appeal against the ruling, its latest attempt to end thousands of lawsuits over the product called Roundup.

The San Francisco Court of Appeals upheld the 2019 ruling in favor of a couple who said they developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (a cancer of the lymphatic system) after using Roundup for years.

Bayer’s last legal recourse now remains in the Supreme Court.

The company, through its subsidiary Monsanto, explained in a statement that the petition submitted to the court seeks to review the ruling in two parts.

“First, federal law supersedes claims of a lack of state law warning at the center of the case (…) second, admissibility of expert testimony deviating from federal standards, allowing witnesses to provide unsubstantiated testimony on the main topic of the case, the Roundup security profile. ,” he argued.

Bayer argued that “mistakes of the Ninth Circuit’s ruling mean that a company can be severely punished for marketing a product without warning of cancer, while the near-universal scientific and regulatory consensus is that the product does not cause cancer.”

Lawsuits related to the press report have haunted the company since it acquired the brand as part of its $63 billion purchase of agricultural seed and pesticide maker Monsanto in 2018.

Last month, Bayer has requested an additional $4.5 billion litigation provision To cover any unfavorable ruling of the United States Supreme Court. The figure was added to the $11.6 billion the company had already set aside for settlements and lawsuits in this regard.

With information from Agence France-Presse