The Federal Court of Appeals for the 3rd U.S. Circuit recently ruled in favor of Bayer, the defendant in a case alleging that Monsanto (acquired by Bayer in 2018) failed to add a cancer warning to the Roundup® label. The allegation was made that Roundup® containing glyphosate as the active ingredient, was responsible for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The cancer was diagnosed during 2006 in the Plaintiff, a landscaper who was exposed to Roundup® in his work.
At issue was the failure of Monsanto to post a label warning on product sold in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The court ruled that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act requires uniformity in labeling, absolving Monsanto and its successor Bayer, of the obligation to post a specific warning.
Bayer has faced more than 150,000 cases alleging adverse effects from exposure to glyphosate with over 100,000 settled under a $10.9 billion agreement negotiated in 2020. Ultimately the question of label warning and responsibility of Monsanto-Bayer for alleged lymphoma will have to be heard by SCOTUS, given conflicting decisions by federal appeals courts.
The favorable decision handed down by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals benefited Bayer with a transitory increase in share price.