Monsanto to stop selling troublesome weedkiller

Facing billions of dollars in potential liability to cancer victims, Monsanto’s parent company said Thursday it would stop selling the current version of Roundup, the world’s most widely used herbicide, for U.S. home and garden use in 202à.

The forthcoming version of the weedkiller will replace its current active ingredient, glyphosate, with “new formulations that rely on alternative active ingredients,” subject to approval by the Environmental Protection Agency and state regulators, said Bayer AG, the German pharmaceutical giant that purchased Monsanto for lÙà billion in 2018.

“This move is being made exclusively to manage litigation risk and not because of any safety concerns,” the company said in a statement. It will continue to market the current version of the product for farm use in the United States and for general use in other