Facing thousands of lawsuits over the potential link of glyphosate and cancer, Bayer AG said might need to sell assets to meet the financial challenges these lawsuits present.

Bayer AG, a German pharmaceutical company, bought Monsanto for $63 billion in 2016 in an effort to expand its focus on health and agriculture. Bayer found Monsanto attractive due to the company’s Roundup pesticides and Roundup Ready line of seeds, which had made billions of dollars for Monsanto.

Even then, the world was starting to look at Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, with a more discerning eye.

The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) had deemed glyphosate “probably carcinogenic to humans” in a 2015 report. A follow-up release said glyphosate was not likely to cause much of a cancer risk to humans who were only exposed to residue through their dietary choices. However, the IARC expressed that exposure to Roundup over years of spraying it on lawns and fields was likely carcinogenic, due to data on farmers who had a history of spraying the chemical.

Not long after Bayer bought Monsanto, Roundup lawsuits began to rain down upon the company. As of the end of February, 48,600 plaintiffs in the U.S. have filed lawsuits against Bayer over Roundup’s alleged link between glyphosate and a number of types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system.

Bayer is currently appealing three U.S. multi-million-dollar verdicts against the company and is attempting to settle with tens of thousands of other plaintiffs. The company stands by its commitment that Roundup is safe, but doesn’t know how much money the pending or even future litigation will cost in the end.

Chief Executive Officer Werner Baumann told Bloomberg Television, “All sources of liquidity would be available to us. The question then is what is the most commonsense thing to do. We are very cognizant of our shareholder base.”

Bayer’s shares are down 31 percent since buying Monsanto.

Some plaintiffs fear Bayer will place its Monsanto subsidiary into bankruptcy, which they say could obliterate any real chance they have for any sort of justice.

Debate Continues Over Glyphosate and Cancer

Despite the IARC’s decision that glyphosate is probably cancer-causing to humans, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made a decision in 2017 that the chemical was “not likely” to cause cancer in humans.

Still, the state of California still includes glyphosate on its list of many carcinogenic chemicals.

University of Washington researchers published a report last year indicating they found “that agricultural workers who used a lot of glyphosate had a 41 percent higher risk of contracting non-Hodgkin lymphoma over their lifetimes than people who used it infrequently or not at all,” according to a PBS article on the controversial chemical.

Scientists said two out of every 100 U.S. residents develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but that rate increases to 2.8 per 100 Americans when they have endured high exposure to glyphosate.

Bayer’s Monsanto continues to stand by more than 800 studies that they say show glyphosate is not harmful.

Rachel Shaffer is a Ph.D. student at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health. She co-authored the school’s research paper on glyphosate and cancer, and she said she avoids using pesticides in her garden at home.

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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