Regulators and environmental experts debate the safety of Monsanto’s Roundup, a herbicide with glyphosate. This debate has led to three glyphosate lawsuits, all of which have ended up with results against Monsanto and Bayer.

NPR reports that three civil cases have been filed against Bayer by people who claimed that they developed cancer as a result of extended exposure to glyphosate.

Things don’t look good for Bayer—three separate juries have returned verdicts requiring Bayer to pay damages to cancer survivors, and many more Roundup lawsuits are waiting in the wings. Fortune says that over 13,000 more lawsuits have been filed over the issue.  

These accusations against Bayer pose a striking contrast to Roundup advertisements and its active ingredient, glyphosate. For years, the herbicide with glyphosate was supposed to be an environmentally friendly alternative to its harsh predecessors, DDT and atrazine.

NPR notes that although Roundup was introduced in 1974, it really took off in 1996 when Monsanto began selling genetically modified crops. These crops were developed to be resistant to glyphosate, so Roundup could be spread over an entire field and the crops would survive.

At this time, criticism around Roundup focused on genetically engineered crops. However, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) began to scrutinize glyphosate itself. The IARC determined that glyphosate was “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

This was based on research that suggested that glyphosate can damage the DNA in cells, which NPR says is the “first step in causing cancer,” along with DNA mutations.

Additionally, NRP notes that there were some cases of people who had been exposed to large amounts of glyphosate having higher than average rates of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Experts were not in consensus over this issue, however. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the European Food Safety Authority determined that herbicide made with glyphosate was not giving people cancer. However, critics noted that this determination was based on studies provided by Monsanto, the maker of Roundup.

According to these critics, the research produced by Monsanto could not be trusted as unbiased. Supporting this criticism that Monsanto had thrown its weight around to ensure that glyphosate was given the stamp of approval, some of the Roundup lawsuits against Bayer claimed that Monsanto and Bayer had more directly influenced regulators.

One Roundup lawsuit claimed that internal Monsanto emails outlined a phone call between a Monsanto agency and an EPA official in which the EPA official allegedly said “I don’t need to see any more studies. I’m going to declare Roundup safe, and I’m going to stop another agency from looking at it.”

NPR goes on to say that Bayer’s defense against the allegations that Roundup can cause cancer is their claim that the research and many well-respected organizations believe that it is safe.

However, more and more evidence suggests that this research, and these organizations, may not be representing the truth. Instead, they may reflect Bayer’s influence more than science, according to some critics.

This debate has taken its toll on Bayer already—its stock has fallen $40 billion since the first Roundup cancer verdict was delivered. Now, Bayer has announced that it will invest more funds in developing new weedkillers, not herbicide with glyphosate, possibly in an attempt to recover from the blow that Roundup has delivered, according to CBS News. 

If you or a loved one developed cancer after using Roundup as a farm worker or home gardener, you may have a legal claim. Legal migrant farm workers may also seek help. Learn more by filling out the form on this page for a FREE case evaluation.

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