Headlines
Bayer tells US it could halt Roundup weedkiller sales over legal risks
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on March 7, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 25, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on March 7, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 25, 2026
Bayer warns it may halt Roundup sales in the US due to legal risks, despite EPA safety endorsements. The company faces ongoing litigation over cancer claims.
By Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Bayer has told U.S. lawmakers it could stop selling the popular Roundup weedkiller unless they can strengthen legal protection against product liability litigation, according to a financial analyst and a person close to the matter.
Bayer has paid about $10 billion to settle disputed claims that Roundup, based on the glyphosate herbicide, causes cancer. About 67,000 further cases are pending for which the group has set aside $5.9 billion in legal provisions.
The German company has said plaintiffs should not be able to take Bayer to court invoking U.S. state rules given the federal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has repeatedly labelled the product as safe to use, as have regulators in other parts of the world.
"Without regulatory clarity (Bayer) will need to exit the business. Bayer have been clear with legislators and farmer groups on this," analysts at brokerage Jefferies said in a note on Thursday, citing guidance Bayer's leadership provided in a meeting.
Bayer, which acquired Roundup under the $63 billion takeover of Monsanto in 2018, said: "We are exploring every possibility to end this litigation." It declined to comment further.
Disclosing glyphosate sales numbers for the first time, Bayer on Wednesday said the product, one of the most widely used weedkillers in U.S. field farming, generated 2.6 billion euros ($2.8 billion) in revenue last year.
"Bayer could reach a point in the future where the company is forced to discontinue the sale of the product in the United States," a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, requesting anonmyity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
As it released fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday, the company said it was working to "significantly contain" litigation by 2026.
It has repeatedly said it is working with farmers' associations to lobby U.S. federal and state legislators. It is also preparing to again petition the Supreme Court for legal protection, following a failed attempt in 2022.
Bayer, however, has not previously threatened to withdraw the product from the U.S. market, although it replaced glyphosate in U.S. consumer products with different weed-killing substances.
(Editing by Gerry Doyle and Barbara Lewis)
Bayer has informed U.S. lawmakers that it may stop selling Roundup unless legal protections against product liability litigation are strengthened.
Bayer has paid approximately $10 billion to settle disputed claims that Roundup, which contains glyphosate, causes cancer.
Bayer argues that plaintiffs should not be able to sue under state rules since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has repeatedly labeled glyphosate as safe.
Roundup generated 2.6 billion euros (approximately $2.8 billion) in sales, highlighting its significance in Bayer's business.
Bayer is working with farmers' associations to lobby for legal protections and is preparing to petition the Supreme Court for further support.
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