Chapter Twelve - Roundup Roulette

CHAPTER TWELVE

Roundup Roulette

THE LAWSUITS STARTED stacking immediately.

After Bayer bought Monsanto, it inherited over 100,000 claims that Roundup was linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of cancer. The chemical at the center of it all was glyphosate, used around the world in homes, parks, and industrial farms.

For decades, Monsanto had defended glyphosate as safe. Regulatory agencies backed that claim. But internal documents raised concerns, including allegations of buried studies, ghostwritten research, and pressure on regulators. The legal strategy was to deny everything.

Then came the courtroom losses.

In 2018, a jury awarded $289 million to a former school groundskeeper who developed cancer after years of Roundup use. The case was reduced on appeal but set a precedent. More trials followed. More judgments. More payouts.

Bayer’s stock plummeted.

By 2020, the company had agreed to pay over $10 billion to settle most of the pending claims, without admitting wrongdoing. Roundup remained on the market. Glyphosate stayed on store shelves. The settlement was framed as closure.

But the lawsuits never fully stopped.

Bayer continued to insist that glyphosate is safe when used correctly. It pointed to global regulatory approvals and new formulations. It shifted some products away from glyphosate for consumer markets, while still selling it in agriculture.

The strategy was familiar: pay, rebrand, move forward.

It worked before. It might work again.

Roundup was never pulled. Not because it was proven safe, but because removing it would have reshaped an industry built on its profits.