Controversies

Company response

• Denial — Bayer

  Bayer has denied ​the claims

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• German life sciences company Bayer AG (BAYN.DE) announced on Friday that its Monsanto unit secured a unanimous defense verdict in the first Roundup-related trial, since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the Durnell case.

• The company said a Missouri jury found in Monsanto's favor in the case of Theresa Aretino et al. versus Monsanto on claims alleging design defect, fraud and negligence.

• Plaintiffs Theresa Aretino, Cynthia Fernandez and Betty Larkin sued Bayer unit Monsanto in 2020 in St. Louis, saying they used Roundup regularly and later developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

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• A Missouri circuit court jury reached a unanimous verdict in favor of Monsanto Oct. 29 in the three-plaintiff case of Theresa Aretino, et al. v. Monsanto Company, the first Roundup trial since the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Monsanto v. Durnell.

• The jury found for Monsanto on the design defect, fraud and negligence claims that each of the three plaintiffs pursued at trial following the Supreme Court’s decision in Durnell, which preempted their failure-to-warn claims.

• The trial began Sept. 30 and involved three women from Florida who alleged that exposure to Roundup caused their illnesses.

Company response

• Denial — Bayer AG

  “Monsanto voluntarily ceased its lawful manufacturing of PCBs more than 40 years ago, and never manufactured, used, or disposed of PCBs into Los Angeles’ waters, and therefore should not be held liable for the contamination alleged by the city,” the statement said.

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• The city's lawsuit is seeking repayment of the city's cost to address PCB contamination and to require Monsanto to abate the public nuisance until the PCBs stop posing a threat to public health and the environment.

• The lawsuit alleges that Monsanto polluted the city's waterways with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

• The lawsuit was filed Friday against three companies that Monsanto spun off into acquisitions and consolidations in the 1990s -- Monsanto Company, now owned by Bayer; Solutia Inc., now owned by Eastman Chemical Company; and Pharmacia LLC., now owned by Pfizer.

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• The lawsuit seeks to recover damages and clean-up costs associated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), extremely toxic and persistent chemicals which Monsanto manufactured for decades, despite knowing the dangers they posed to the environment and public health.

• The lawsuit alleges that Monsanto polluted the city's waterways with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

Company response

• Denial — Bayer

  Bayer, Monsanto's parent company, said in a statement that the lawsuit is without merit.

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• Bayer, Monsanto's parent company, said in a statement that the lawsuit is without merit.

• Maryland’s attorney general filed a lawsuit Tuesday against chemical company Monsanto and two spinoffs, alleging that chemicals Monsanto manufactured harmed the state’s waters, fish and wildlife and seeking to recover damages and clean-up costs.

• “Monsanto not only continued to manufacture and sell PCBs but increased production even when the harm to the environment was undeniable,” Frosh said in a statement.

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• The CNIL agency fined Monsanto 400,000 euros ($473,000) in the case brought by seven plaintiffs.

• By keeping the lists secret, Monsanto deprived them of this right, CNIL said.

Company response

• Denial — Monsanto

  Reportedly, Monsanto denies the allegations in the plaintiffs’ complaint and further denies any liability.

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• The plaintiffs lawsuit alleged that Monsanto committed fraud by not alerting consumers on the product that it is linked to cancer.

• Reportedly, Monsanto denies the allegations in the plaintiffs’ complaint and further denies any liability.

• A group of Roundup users asked the Delaware District Court to give preliminary approval to a $45 million settlement and certify a nationwide class of consumers in a lawsuit against Monsanto Co., the company which produces Roundup.

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• The defendant, however, said that the letter brief filed last week “includes hearsay descriptions of the settlement agreement that are incomplete, misleading, and in some respects inaccurate.”

• Monsanto, however, argued that the appellate court should disregard the letter, saying the third-party plaintiffs and attorneys did not have grounds to appeal the settlement deal with John Carson.

• These plaintiffs alleged that Bayer paid Carson to appeal the lawsuit because the Southern District of Georgia decided to dismiss some of the plaintiffs’ claims and Bayer wants that decision to apply to some of the other lawsuits against it, where it could save them even more money.

Company response

• Denial — Bayer AG

  In its response, Bayer AG, which acquired Monsanto, denied the company ever used or dumped PCBs into the District’s waterways

• Clarification — Bayer AG

  “We are reviewing this lawsuit and will respond to the complaint at the appropriate time,” Bayer AG said in a written statement.

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• In its response, Bayer AG, which acquired Monsanto, denied the company ever used or dumped PCBs into the District’s waterways

• The suit alleges the chemical giant made false claims to regulators over decades.

• D.C. is suing Monsanto Co. and two affiliated companies, alleging they knowingly manufactured, promoted and sold toxic chemicals that polluted the Potomac River and its tributaries.

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• It also struck a separate deal with attorneys general in New Mexico, Washington state, and the District of Columbia to resolve PCB claims for $170 million.

• Bayer will pay $400 million to farmers who claimed their crops were damaged from dicamba.

Company response

• Denial — Bayer

  In a statement Tuesday, Bayer said, "The appeal court's decision to reduce the compensatory and punitive damages is a step in the right direction, but we continue to believe that the jury's verdict and damage awards are inconsistent with the evidence at trial and the law.

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• But the California Court of Appeal in San Francisco reduced the award to groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson, who suffers from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, from $78.5 million to $20.5 million.

• A former Vallejo groundskeeper with terminal cancer won an appeal Monday against Monsanto Co., which was seeking to overturn a trial court decision to award the man more than $75 million in damages.

• In a statement Tuesday, Bayer said, "The appeal court's decision to reduce the compensatory and punitive damages is a step in the right direction, but we continue to believe that the jury's verdict and damage awards are inconsistent with the evidence at trial and the law.

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• In our view, Johnson presented abundant -- and certainly substantial -- evidence that glyphosate, together with the other ingredients in Roundup products, caused his cancer,

• Bayer said in a statement that the ruling is a "step in the right direction."

• Under Monday's ruling, the court denied Monsanto's motion for a new trial on condition that Johnson accept a settlement of $10.2 million in compensatory damages and the same amount in punitive damages.

Company response

• Denial — Bayer Australia

  In a statement, Bayer Australia said it had great sympathy for any individual with cancer, but the "extensive body of science" on glyphosate-based herbicides supported the conclusion that Roundup did not cause non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

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• Mr Wild's case was lodged with the Victorian Supreme Court earlier this week.

• In a statement, Bayer Australia said it had great sympathy for any individual with cancer, but the "extensive body of science" on glyphosate-based herbicides supported the conclusion that Roundup did not cause non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

• Mr Carbone said the warnings on Roundup bottles were inadequate and his client's clothes and body had been "drenched" in the herbicide over a 40-year period of use.

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• Monsanto Fined $10.2 Million For Spraying Illegal Pesticide in Hawaii

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• “The illegal conduct in this case posed a threat to the environment, surrounding communities and Monsanto workers,” said United States Attorney Nick Hanna.

• Monsanto has agreed to plead guilty to using a banned pesticide on Maui research crops and pay more than $10 million in fines, according to a U.S. Justice Department plea agreement released Thursday.

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• In a public statement, Monsanto – which was acquired by Bayer in 2018 – said the decision will strengthen “agricultural innovation in Brazil.”

• The court’s nine justices unanimously ruled on Oct. 9 that farmers cannot save seeds for replanting if the seeds are harvested from Monsanto’s patented Roundup Ready soybeans

• The Brazilian appeals court’s Oct. 9 decision reverses a past ruling establishing the rights of small farmers in Brazil.