The pharmaceutical and agrochemical company Bayer is working on an alternative to the controversial weed killer glyphosate. “We are already testing this new substance on real plants,” said CEO Bill Anderson to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (F.A.S.). “Our goal is to bring the new product onto the market in 2028, just four years from now.” It is the first groundbreaking innovation in this field in 30 years, said Anderson.
Tens of thousands of claims for damages in the USA
Glyphosate was developed by the American agricultural chemical company Monsanto, which was acquired by Bayer in 2018 for more than $60 billion. Since then, expensive legal disputes have burdened the Leverkusen-based company. In the USA, Bayer is facing tens of thousands of claims for damages due to alleged health damage caused by the use of glyphosate.
With a view to the legal disputes in the USA, “new approaches inside and outside the courtrooms” will be pursued in order to reduce legal risks and the associated uncertainties, Bayer announced last Tuesday. Investors have long criticized the fact that the company has not yet been able to draw a line under the glyphosate problem. At the end of January, around 54,000 cases were open, 2,000 more than in October. The provisions made for this amounted to 6.3 billion US dollars (5.7 billion euros) at the end of 2023. “Glyphosate is safe,” Anderson emphasized on Tuesday.
