French Court Cancels Bayer’s Permit For Roundup

French Court Cancels Bayer’s Permit For Roundup

Introduction

A French Court canceled Bayer's license for Monsanto's controversial weed-killer Roundup Pro 360 following a court ruling that the regulators neglected the safety concerns while clearing the extensively used herbicide in 2017.

The Lyon court found that the environmental agency ANSES failed to consider the link between glyphosate, an active ingredient in Roundup, and cancer by not conducting a specific evaluation of the herbicide's health risks. French President Emmanuel Macron had declared to phase-out all glyphosate-containing herbicides within three years.

While in Canada, farmers continue to use Roundup after Health Canada concluded that glyphosate does not pose any cancer risk to humans. The federal agency tossed eight objection notices and assertions made in the 2017 Monsanto Papers. The Roundup cancer controversy has affected more than 10,000 individuals who were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). One of the plaintiffs was awarded $289 million, later reduced to $78 million in punitive damages in August 2018.

The lawsuit filed by plaintiff Edwin Hardeman will go to trial on February 25, 2019, before Judge Vince Chhabria in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California where multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2741; In re: Roundup Products Liability Litigation) has been formed.