Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Bayer Is Facing Tens Of Thousands Of Roundup Cancer Suits. But It Still Has A Product To Sell, Too.
The Wall Street Journal: Bayer Strives To End Lawsuits Over Roundup—While Still Selling It
Bayer AG faces an extraordinary challenge as it tries to settle tens of thousands of claims that its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer: The product remains on the shelves, making it almost impossible to put the litigation to rest forever. Experts have said Bayer is in an unusual position compared with other companies that have faced multibillion-dollar lawsuits over their products. To end mass-tort litigation, other companies generally have discontinued or altered their products or added warning labels—all of which are problematic for the German pharmaceutical and agricultural company. (Kusisto, Bender and Bunge, 2/12)
San Francisco Chronicle: Monsanto Cancer Case Pits Federal Product Label Against California Law
As Monsanto challenged a $78.5 million damage award to a Bay Area groundskeeper who was stricken with cancer after spraying the company’s herbicide, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra stepped into the case Wednesday, telling a state appeals court that the verdict was validly based on state laws requiring warning labels for cancer-causing chemicals. The 2018 verdict was the first of three, all in the tens of millions of dollars, in Bay Area trials of suits by users of the glyphosate herbicide, widely sold as Roundup, who were later diagnosed with cancer. A central issue is whether the suits could rely on California law, which classifies glyphosate as a carcinogen, or should have been dismissed under federal law because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers it a safe chemical. (Egelko, 2/12)
