As Roundup lawsuits mount, Bayer cuts 12,000 jobs, considers settling lawsuits
By Surya Zeeb
Published: December 6, 2018
Category: Glyphosate Controversy, The Organic & Non-GMO Report Newsletter
German drug maker Bayer may be feeling buyer’s remorse over its purchase of pesticide/GMO giant Monsanto. Faced with mounting lawsuits over its Roundup weedkiller’s link to cancer, Bayer recently announced it would cut around 12,000 jobs, more than 10 percent of the company’s workforce.
Bayer, which purchased Monsanto for $63 billion earlier this year, has seen its stock price plummet 35 percent this year, dragged down by more than 9,000 lawsuits the company faces due to a cancer link from Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide.
Bayer says it will cut 12,000 of its 118,200 jobs worldwide.
Meanwhile, Bayer CEO Werner Baumann is open to settling the Roundup lawsuits.
“If we can settle nuisances at some point where the defense costs in preparing cases are higher than potential settlement amounts, we will of course consider it from an economic standpoint,” he said.
Last August, a jury awarded California groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson $289 million after he claimed that his use of Roundup caused his terminal non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. A judge later reduced that award to $78 million.
Baumann insists glyphosate is safe, and said his company will continue to defend itself against the lawsuits by plaintiffs with similar claims as Johnson.
Source: Reuters
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