Croplink

Bayer announced earlier this year that it will pull Roundup and all its glyphosate garden and lawn-care products from retail shelves by 2023. However, the popular herbicide will still be available to U.S. professional and agricultural customers.

"We know that farmers continue to rely on Roundup containing glyphosate to deliver crops to market using sustainable farming practices that reduce soil tillage, thereby reducing soil erosion and carbon emissions," Bayer CEO Werner Baumann said in a conference call with investors and media.

Bayer's decision to eliminate some glyphosate weed-control products and replace them with products containing alternative active ingredients is part of a five-point plan to help close the door on future litigation and claims by individual users of the herbicide.

More than 100,000 people have sued Bayer or made claims against the company alleging glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, causes cancer (primarily non-Hodgkin's lymphoma). The company claims Roundup and glyphosate are safe, and the EPA previously declared as much saying it found no connection that the herbicide causes non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

In an August 2021 statement, Baumann said: "We want to provide comfort to our investors that the glyphosate litigation exposure should now be reasonably accounted for and leaves significant upside in the event of a favorable Supreme Court decision on the case. It is important for the company, our owners and our customers that we move on and put the uncertainty and ambiguity related to the glyphosate litigation behind us."

Bayer plans to launch a new website at the end of 2021 with scientific studies relevant to Roundup's safety that will provide even more transparency to purchasers about the products they use.

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-- Follow the latest from Matthew Wilde, Crops Editor, by visiting the Production Blogs at dtnpf.com or following him on Twitter @progressivwilde

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