Bayer Agrees to $7.25 Billion Proposed Settlement Over Thousands of Roundup Cancer Lawsuits

These lawsuits center on allegations that Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate, is linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The proposed deal, filed in a Missouri court, still requires judicial approval. It comes as the Supreme Court of the United States prepares to hear arguments in a separate case over whether federal approval of Roundup’s labeling blocks state-level failure-to-warn claims.

In all, around 200,000 claims have been made against Bayer over Roundup, including more than 125,000 lawsuits filed since 2015. Although some cases have resulted in large jury awards for plaintiffs, others have favored Bayer, and many claims have already been resolved through earlier settlements. The new proposal is designed to address most of the remaining lawsuits, as well as future claims from people exposed to Roundup before the agreement was announced.

Under the plan, Bayer would make annual payments into a compensation fund for up to 21 years. Individual payouts would vary widely depending on factors such as the claimant’s age at diagnosis, how extensively they used the weedkiller, and how aggressive their cancer is. Critics argue that the average payments – ranging from about $10,000 to $165,000 – are too low.

Due to litigation pressures, the company has already removed glyphosate from Roundup products sold to U.S. home gardeners, though it remains in agricultural formulations.

To read how Monsanto – Roundup’s original manufacturer – helped write the ‘science’ that claimed the weedkiller was safe, see this article on our website.