
Bayer Calls Roundup Suits Existential Threat to Company, Farming
May 25, 2024 | Source: Yahoo Finance | by Kim Chipman and Tarso Veloso
Bayer AG Chief Executive Officer Bill Anderson said the wave of lawsuits over its Roundup weedkiller is an “existential” threat to the company and farmers, ratcheting up the stakes as it considers a controversial legal maneuver.
“The glyphosate litigation topic is an existential topic for our company because it does threaten to remove our ability to continue to innovate for farmers and for food security,” Anderson said in a speech at the Executives’ Club of Chicago on Thursday, referring to Roundup’s key ingredient.
Bayer is considering whether to use a legal tactic dubbed the Texas Two-Step bankruptcy, in an attempt to settle tens of thousands of US lawsuits claiming Roundup causes cancer, people familiar with the company’s thinking told Bloomberg in March. Bayer has vigorously defended its claim that glyphosate and glyphosate-based formulations are safe, and the chemical remains in widespread use across much of the world.