Bayer plummets after Monsanto's $289m cancer payout
Shares in German pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG plummeted by more than 10% on Monday after subsidiary Monsanto was found to be liable for a terminally ill man’s cancer.
Bayer AG
€26.33
16:45 19/04/24
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4,918.09
00:00 20/04/24
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17,737.36
17:00 19/04/24
Monsanto, which was bought by Bayer for $66bn in June, was found to have acted with “malice or oppression” against former groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson, who has been awarded $289m in damages after a jury found the firm’s Roundup weedkiller caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma blood-cell cancer and that the corporation failed to warn him of the health hazards from exposure.
UK hardware and gardening chains such as Homebase and B&Q are now reviewing whether to pull Bayer's Roundup weedkiller range from their shelves.
The herbicide is registered in 130 countries and approved for use on more than 100 crops, but in 2015, the World Health Organization’s international agency for research on cancer (IARC) classified ingredient glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans”.
Glyphosate was introduced by Monsanto in 1974 but is now sold by various manufacturers after the patent expired in 2000.
Monsanto vice-president Scott Partridge said the IARC, which gave key evidence in the trial, was “corrupted” and insisted that the “verdict doesn’t change the four-plus decades of safe use and science behind the product”.
He added that the company will appeal the verdict. .
However, Johnson’s lawyer Brent Wisner said the evidence against Monsanto was “overwhelming” and that the trial sent the message that the company could not continue deceiving customers to the expense of their health.
Autumn will see another similar case against Monsanto start in St Louis, Missouri, with the company facing more than 4,000 similar cases across the US, according to Johnson’s lawyers.
Bayer’s shares were down 10.55% at €83.51 at 1000 BST.