Bayer’s purchase of Monsanto comes back to haunt it
THE CALIFORNIA Supreme Court declined on Wednesday to hear arguments by Monsanto, recently acquired by Bayer, as to why Roundup, the world’s most widely used herbicide, doesn’t belong on the state’s list of chemicals known to cause cancer.
The California Court of Appeal, Fifth District, had rejected the US company’s arguments in April.
Bayer’s $63 billion (R912.7bn) Monsanto purchase has opened the German drug manufacturer up to legal risks.
A San Francisco state jury last week awarded a former grounds keeper $289 million on his claim that exposure to Roundup caused his cancer, and thousands of additional cases are pending. Meanwhile, Bayer is also facing lawsuits in the US over dicamba, another herbicide in Monsanto’s portfolio.
“The perception is that a huge wave of lawsuits and penalty payments are rolling toward Bayer,” said Markus Mayer, an analyst with Baader Bank. “This sentiment is right taken a swift hit after acquiring Monsanto to secure a place atop the quickly consolidating market for seeds and crop chemicals alongside China National Chemical Corporation and DowDuPont.
Farmers in Arkansas and South Dakota filed class-action lawsuits in St Louis against Monsanto, seeking compensation for damages they claim are linked to Monsanto’s herbicide dicamba, German business newspaper Wirtschaftswoche said yesterday.
The lawsuits had been previously reported in the US.
Like Roundup, dicamba is sprayed on fields that have been planted with seeds that are resistant to the chemical. Farmers say it has harmed adjacent crops after drifting over from fields planted with the resistant seeds. BASF and DowDuPont also make dicamba.
A spokesperson from Bayer didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment. The company has said that “the weight of scientific evidence”, along with real-world and regulatory experience, show that glyphosate, the main chemical in Roundup, is safe. – Bloomberg