Faced with the constant safety
problems in the use of glyphosate, Bayer AG (Bayer) recently expressed that it
would spend USD5.60 billion (EUR5 billion) in developing a new type of herbicide
product in the next decade. This is due to the effort to reduce the company's
environmental impact by 30% as of 2030, according to various media reports.
This is the latest effort that Bayer has ever made to confront the impact on the litigation against glyphosate that is claimed to bring cancer to a couple in the USA. Bayer also emphasized that despite the fact that glyphosate might still play an important role in some product portfolios of the company and even in agriculture, Bayer would devote itself to better probabilities for planters.
According to Bayer, the main goal is to increase crop protection and achieve more accurate applications by exploiting new technology. This will not only be helpful to restore and preserve biological diversity, but it also provides a better measure for the climate change by utilizing natural resources in a more effective way.
It is reported that on May 13, 2019, Bayer was fined with over USD2 billion for the defect of the glyphosate product “Roundup” from its subsidiary, Monsanto Company. Because of the flaw in design, “Roundup” failed to give out a warning of glyphosate, a chemical that can potentially cause cancer. The jury thought that Bayer should be responsible for its victims, a local old couple that were diagnosed with cancer. This is the highest amount of fines that the jury has ever made to the company regarding similar cases.
As a matter of fact, this is the third time that the
jury has made a judgement to Bayer in terms of glyphosate causing cancer. In
August last year, Monsanto Company was involved in a suit where its glyphosate was
suspected to cause a school gardener to have cancer. And Bayer was requested to
pay USD289 million as a fine. In March this year, the company was fined with
another USD80 million for a suit. In May, Bayer said that the company had paid
over USD130 million for the litigation against its glyphosate in the whole USA.
Since Bayer spent USD63 billion in acquiring Monsanto Company, a leading
company in the worldwide agricultural industry, in June last year, a decreasing
tendency in its stock price by about 45% was seen obviously.
Bayer is a German company with the head office located in Leverkusen. With 120,000 staffs and 350 branches almost all over the world, Bayer owns 750 manufacturers in 200 places among five continents. High polymer, medical and health care, chemical and agriculture mark the four biggest leading industries in the company. Bayer also becomes the largest industrial conglomerate in Germany, with more than 10,000 species of products. The company aims to constantly seek better quality for a better life.
Bayer’s main products in China consist of Bayaspirin, Nifedipine, Ciprofloxacin, Bifonazole, Acarbose, Nimodipine, Rantudil, Trasylol and Human Albumin.
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