An Australian judge on Thursday dismissed a class action lawsuit that claimed Bayer’s Roundup weedkiller could cause a type of blood cancer, a boost for the company as it battles a number of similar cases in the United States.
Justice Michael Lee of the Federal Court of Australia ruled that there was not enough evidence to conclude, based on probabilities, that Roundup could cause non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL).
“This proceeding did not prove, on a probabilistic basis, that use of or exposure to Roundup products during the relevant period increased an individual’s risk of developing NHL,” Lee said.
The German drug and chemical company has said that Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, is safe. The company says it “fully stands behind its glyphosate-based products, which have been used worldwide for nearly 50 years.”
The Australian class action against Bayer subsidiaries unites more than 1,000 claimants and is one of 40 cases filed outside the United States, all of which have been lodged in either Canada or Australia.
The lead claimant, Calvin McNickle, 41, said he used Roundup to spray weeds for more than two decades on his family’s property and while working for a vegetation management company. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 35.
In the United States, Bayer has won 14 of the last 20 Roundup trials, but it also suffered consecutive losses due in late 2023 and early 2024, resulting in more than $4 billion in damages.
Some of these verdicts reduced the amounts awarded, but the plaintiffs’ continued victories dashed investor and company hopes that the worst of the Roundup litigation was over.
The company still has more than 50,000 cases pending against it in the United States. The US court rejected the request for a settlement to prevent future cases from rising.
Roundup was originally produced by American agrochemical company Monsanto, which was acquired by Bayer in 2018 for $63 billion.
The company has replaced glyphosate with new active ingredients in its products for household use in the United States to reduce the risk of litigation, as the majority of claims have come from household users.
It continues to sell glyphosate-based herbicides to farmers who rely heavily on it.
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