In a press release issued Thursday, Bayer updated their five-point plan to bring closure to litigation surrounding the herbicide glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup. The company is seeking a Supreme Court decision that would review the Hardiman decision in California that found that the herbicide was responsible for causing lymphoma in a man who used Roundup as part of his job as a groundskeeper and Bayer failed to adequately warn consumers that the product was a carcinogen.
Additionally, the company announced the reformulation of Roundup branded herbicides on retail shelves, removing glyphosate as an active ingredient by 2023. New Roundup formulations will require EPA and state approval before being offered for sale. Bayer stated that this move was being made to address future litigation risk and was not related to concerns surrounding the product’s safety. There will be no change to the availability of the company’s glyphosate formulations for the professional or agricultural markets.
“This is from a regulatory and logistical point of view (of what’s) possible,” Condon said during a conference call with investors.
More than 90% of the Roundup litigation claims Bayer has faced in recent years have come from the U.S. residential lawn and garden market business segment and is what led to the company deciding to abandon the do it yourself (DIY) formulations, according to Werner Baumann, CEO of Bayer AG. NALP continues to closely monitor all developments with regards to glyphosate considering the intense public scrutiny. We continue to trust and support EPA’s most recent re-evaluation of glyphosate and their further finding that glyphosate is not carcinogenic. Bayer continues to defend EPAs position and continues to support professional uses of glyphosate on the Farm or at your home by trained and professional certified applicators.
