Hints and tips:
...Quantifying litigation liabilities is a mug’s game. In some cases, initial fears turn out to be overblown....
...Rather like Bayer’s woes related to its glyphosate herbicide, the deal to buy Mead Johnson in 2017 looks set to result in unquantifiable litigation risk for the consumer group....
...herbicide it inherited from Monsanto....
...In addition to Bayer, plaintiffs' lawyers are preparing for courtroom fights with chemical companies Chevron, Syngenta, and ChemChina over the herbicide paraquat....
...Tens of thousands of US citizens blame glyphosate, the herbicide’s active ingredient, for their cancer....
...So collectively, this is, you know, some of the biggest litigation facing Berkshire in at least my time covering the company for many years....
...US trial attorneys are attempting to ratchet up pressure on Bayer over its Roundup weedkiller despite the company attempting to turn the page on litigation alleging that the herbicide causes cancer....
...In addition to Bayer, plaintiffs’ lawyers are preparing for courtroom fights with chemical companies Chevron, Syngenta and ChemChina over the herbicide Paraquat....
...It has been hit hard by litigation involving Roundup — a weedkiller it acquired when it bought Monsanto — claiming that the herbicide caused cancers....
...The company has been reeling from the billions in debt it took on to acquire Monsanto and the mounting costs around the crop company’s weedkiller glyphosate litigation cases....
...The best hope, writes Alan Beattie, might be a lengthy litigation process between nations at the World Trade Organization....
...Hardeman sued Monsanto in 2016, arguing that his habitual use of Roundup, the world’s most popular herbicide, had caused his Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and that there were no relevant warnings on the product...
...But US courts in 2022 have ruled in favour of Bayer in up to six recent cases, suggesting the litigation bonanza is running out of gas....
...an analyst at Berenberg, said the issue was “unlikely to descend into the next Bayer Monsanto”, referring to a settlement of up to $10.9bn over the potential carcinogenic effects of the German giant’s herbicide...
...It is highly effective and works in tandem with genetically modified crops that are resistant to the herbicide and also sold by the seedmaker....
...herbicide caused damage to crops....
...The EPA in October 2018 extended the approval of ‘Dicamba’ non-selective herbicide for ‘over the top use’ by another two years until December 2020 ‘unless EPA further extends it’....
...The catalyst for the extraordinary rebuke by shareholders was an avalanche of legal cases in the US in which Monsanto’s key product, the glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup, was alleged to be carcinogenic...
...While the German group is facing litigation over alleged links between its Roundup pesticide and cancer, a jury in Missouri has ruled against Bayer and chemicals group BASF in a case over pesticide dicamba...
...Bayer has argued consistently that Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides are safe, pointing out that the substance has been approved for use by regulators around the world....
...As farmers battle glyphosate resistance, Monsanto has developed cotton and soyabeans with genetic traits able to tolerate both glyphosate and dicamba, another herbicide, allowing farmers to toggle between...
...The affluent Alpine state wants environmentally friendlier alternatives to glyphosate herbicides....
...Atrazine, banned in the EU, can contaminate groundwater; dicamba can drift and harm other crops....
...Combining Monsanto’s strength in seeds with Bayer’s expertise in herbicides made sense, they believed. Herbicides clear farmland but seeds have to be resistant to the treatments used....
...Analysts pointed out that the recent share price fall meant that markets had already priced in litigation risks of more than €20bn....
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