Chemical company Bayer has to pay $ 2 billion in Roundup case

The German chemical company Bayer has received a new blow because of his weed killer Roundup: a jury in the US state of Georgia sentenced the company to pay 2.1 billion dollars (1.93 billion euros) to a man who claimed to have received cancer through the drug. International press agencies report this.

This is a compensation of $ 65 million, with a fine of 2 billion dollars on top. Bayer will appeal against the decision. In the past, the company said it succeeded in reducing the fines in this way by 90 percent.

Tens of thousands of lawsuits

Since Bayer in 2018 the American agricultural giant Monsanto for 59 billion euros overlookthe chemical group is being chased by lawsuits over Roundup. That weed control means, originally a Monsanto brand, contains the controversial component glyphosate.

Opponents suspect a connection between glyphosate and diseases such as Parkinson’s and cancer. The RIVM is currently researching the link between glyphosate and Parkinson’s; However, despite years of scientific research, there is no conclusive evidence for the proposition that glyphosate causes cancer.

Opponents suspect a connection between glyphosate and diseases such as Parkinson’s and cancer. However, despite years of scientific research, there is no conclusive evidence for the latter context.

That did not prevent more than 180,000 people from sue Monsanto (and later Bayer) because of his alleged role in causing health damage with Roundup. In 2020 paid Bayer has already a settlement of almost 10 billion dollars (9 billion euros) to buy off around 95,000 cases. At the moment there are still sixty thousand comparable issues against the company.

Deep into the red

The lawsuits are a substantial financial burden for the German chemical giant. Bayer achieved billions of wins every year up to and including 2019, since then the figures have been regularly due to the claims for damages deep into the red. In 2024, the group suffered a net loss of more than 2.5 billion euros. On the stock exchanges lost The Bayer share since the acquisition of Monsanto three-quarters of its value.

Despite the controversial status of glyphosate approved The European Commission is the means at the end of 2023 for another ten years for use within the European Union. In the Netherlands, nine out of ten arable farmers use the product. At the end of last year reported research platform Follow the Money That in the Netherlands around 42,000 hectares of land is sprayed with glyphosate or a similar pesticide every year.

Although the plea is proven harmful to biodiversity and water quality, it is also used in 108 groundwater protection areas, and near 96 protected Natura 2000 areas. About 670,000 people live within 250 meters from a field that is sprayed with glyphosate, according to Follow the Money.

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