Bayer proposes $8 billion to settle lawsuits alleging Roundup product causes cancer: report

Bayer AG is reportedly proposing paying $8 billion to settle more than 18,000 lawsuits in the U.S. that allege its Roundup weed control contains carcinogens.

Sources close to discussions between Bayer and attorneys for the plaintiffs told Bloomberg News that the company has floated sums of anywhere from $6 billion to $8 billion to resolve the lawsuits, while attorneys for the plaintiffs are reportedly demanding at least $10 billion.

{mosads}The two sides are reportedly also divided over how to compensate Americans who believe their cancer was caused by using Roundup products, a claim which Bayer denies; the company has insisted that the herbicide is safe for consumer use.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruled this week that it would not approve labels claiming that the active agent in Roundup, glyphosate, causes cancer.

The $8 billion proposed by Bayer is reportedly less than some of the company’s investors had expected it to propose, according to Bloomberg, with experts saying that the settlement will likely end up being higher.

“$8 billion would be lower than most analysts are forecasting and many investors fearing,” Baader Helvea analyst Markus Mayer told the news outlet.

A growing number of U.S. juries have disagreed with Bayer’s claims about Roundup and have summarily awarded large sums of money to plaintiffs who have argued that they developed cancer as a direct result of the herbicide.

In California, a jury in May awarded $2 billion to a couple who argued that Roundup’s chemicals caused them to develop cancer, though that award was later reduced in scale by a judge.

Reached by email, a spokesperson for Bayer declined to comment to The Hill.

This article was updated at 1:41 p.m.