Bayer AG struck a $2 billion deal to resolve a class action of future claims relating to allegations that its widely used weedkiller Roundup causes cancer, the company and lawyers for U.S. consumers said on Wednesday.
Bayer has been struggling to finalize the settlement of claims that Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides cause non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer. Bayer inherited the business and the litigation as part of a $63 billion acquisition of Monsanto in 2018.
Wednesday’s deal proposes creating a class of future claimants who have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and who were exposed to Roundup prior to their diagnosis. The settlement also includes benefits for people who were exposed to Roundup who develop the cancer in the future.
Bayer will provide $2 billion for an initial four-year period as compensation and to cover outreach and diagnostic assistance. The company said the settlement amount was disclosed last year when it made a provision.
People exposed to Roundup who were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma may be eligible for up to $200,000 in compensation.
The company has said the weedkillers are safe and that studies and health regulators have deemed glyphosate is not carcinogenic to people.
The deal also aims to address concerns raised by federal judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco, who questioned the legality of a prior settlement plan.
In June, Bayer reached a wider $9.6 billion settlement that would resolve the bulk of U.S. lawsuits that were already filed, which claimed Roundup weedkiller causes cancer.
(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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