The plans were announced in a conference call after the California district judge labeled “clearly unreasonable” an arrangement that would have halted litigation for four years. In that timeframe, eligible plaintiffs negotiating  with Bayer could potentially have received compensation of up to $200,000 each, while agreeing not to seek punitive damages. In Chhabria’s view, this “would accomplish a lot for Monsanto, but far less for the Roundup users.”

Chhabria’s decision also called into question another Bayer plan to settle 125,000 existing lawsuits for $9.6 billion, which the drugs and agrochemicals producer said it would now need to reassess. As a workaround for the arrangement the court failed to bless, the German group has presented a new package combining a number of legal and commercial actions to help it achieve a level of risk mitigation comparable to the previously proposed national class action solution.

CEO Werner Baumann said 96,000 of the 125,000 existing claims “have been finalized, are in the final stages of resolution or involve claims that are not eligible.” From January to March 2021, Bayer paid out some €2.2 billion to settle litigation.

Bayer’s five-point plan to put glyphosate claims behind it, even without approval of its settlement plans, covers several fields, including educating consumers, establishing an independent scientific advisory panel and trying to find amicable out-of-court solutions for existing claims. It would also continue to appeal court cases it has lost.

 The most significant step being studied would be to remove the glyphosate-based herbicide from the consumer residential lawn and garden market, from which Bayer said the “overwhelming” majority of claims in the Roundup litigation come, yet remain in the market. Liam Condon, president of the group’s Crop Science segment, explained that this means the Roundup brand name would be kept but the consumer product could use a different active ingredient.

None of these discussions, Bayer stressed, would affect the availability of glyphosate-based products in markets for professional and agricultural users. Glyphosate sales to US consumers, mainly under the Roundup brand, account for only €300m of its annual revenue, less than 2% of the Crop Science segment’s annual sales. When Monsanto was first permitted to sell the glyphosate product, Roundup was solely for professional use. This was later extended to the consumer segment.

In another move aimed in particular at hobby gardeners, Bayer said it plans to create a new website with scientific studies relevant to Roundup’s safety and request that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approve corresponding language on Roundup labels. The purpose of the website, it said, “is to provide purchasers with access to the significant body of science on the safety of glyphosate so that they are empowered to make informed decisions on the products they use.” Baumann said the group will promote the website regardless of whether EPA approves the label addition.

Since announcing plans to acquire Monsanto, the most expensive deal in its corporate history, in 2016, Bayer’s share price has continuously fallen. Altogether, the publicly traded company has lost €37 billion, or 40% of its stock market value. Since August 2018, it has been involved in glyphosate litigation, losing all legal battles so far and paying substantial sums in damages.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist