Monsanto Co’s Roundup for sale in Encinitas, California, June 26, 2017.  Photo: Reuters/Mike Blake/File

U.S. judge cuts $2 billion Roundup verdict against Bayer to $86 million

Reuters – A California judge on Thursday reduced a $2 billion jury verdict, slashing the award for a couple who blamed Bayer AG’s glyphosate-based weed killer, Roundup, for their cancer to $86.7 million. Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith of the California Superior Court in Oakland said the jury’s billion-dollar punitive damage awards were excessive and […] Read more

Edwin Hardeman, at right with his attorneys Jennifer Moore (left) and Aimee Wagstaff, speaks to the media, after Bayer was found liable for Hardeman’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma arising from his use of Roundup herbicide, at a federal courthouse in San Francisco on March 27, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Alexandria Sage)

Juror urges judge to uphold US$80M Roundup verdict

Reuters — A juror who was part of a panel that delivered a US$80 million award against Bayer AG after finding that its glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup caused a man’s cancer has urged the presiding judge to uphold the decision. A letter from the juror written on July 4 was posted to the court docket […] Read more

Edwin Hardeman, at right with his attorneys Jennifer Moore (left) and Aimee Wagstaff, speaks to the media, after Bayer was found liable for Hardeman’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma arising from his use of Roundup herbicide, at a federal courthouse in San Francisco on March 27, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Alexandria Sage)

Judge to slash US$80 million Roundup jury verdict

Reuters — A U.S. judge on Tuesday said he would reduce a US$80 million damage award against Bayer to US$50 million or less in the case of a man who blamed his cancer on glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco said the jury’s $75 million punitive damages award to plaintiff […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Bayer seeks glyphosate litigation advice as Elliott reveals stake

Frankfurt | Reuters — Chemicals giant Bayer , under pressure from activist shareholders, said on Wednesday it has hired an external lawyer to advise its supervisory board and has set up a committee to help resolve a multi-billion dollar glyphosate litigation issue. Bayer has seen its share price tumble in the wake of its US$63 […] Read more

(Jack Dykinga photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

USDA investigates unapproved GMO wheat in Washington state

Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed the discovery of unapproved, genetically modified (GM) wheat plants growing in an un-planted agricultural field in Washington state. There was no evidence the wheat had entered the food supply, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said in a statement on Friday. The wheat […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

California jury hits Bayer with US$2 billion award

Reuters — A California jury on Monday awarded more than US$2 billion to a couple who claimed Bayer’s glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide caused their cancer, in the largest U.S. jury verdict to date against the company in litigation over the chemical. It was the third consecutive U.S. jury verdict against the company in litigation over the […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Glyphosate not a carcinogen, U.S. EPA reiterates

Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Tuesday that glyphosate, a chemical in many popular weed killers, is not a carcinogen, contradicting decisions by U.S. juries that found it caused cancer in people. The EPA’s announcement reaffirms its earlier findings about the safety of glyphosate, the key ingredient in Bayer’s […] Read more



(Dave Bedard photo)

U.S. criticizes Vietnam ban of glyphosate imports

Chicago/Hanoi | Reuters — U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue on Thursday criticized Vietnam’s move to ban imports of glyphosate-based herbicides, saying the decision would have “devastating impacts on global agricultural production.” Vietnam’s government said in a statement that the toxic level of herbicides containing glyphosate had long been of concern, in the latest display […] Read more