Bayer agrees to $7.25 billion proposed settlement over thousands of
Roundup cancer lawsuits
[February 18, 2026]
By DAVID A. LIEB
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Agrochemical maker Bayer and attorneys for
cancer patients announced a proposed $7.25 billion settlement Tuesday to
resolve thousands of U.S. lawsuits alleging the company failed to warn
people that its popular weedkiller Roundup could cause cancer.
The proposed settlement comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to
hear arguments in April on Bayer's assertion that the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency’s approval of Roundup without a cancer warning should
invalidate claims filed in state courts. That case would not be affected
by the proposed settlement.
But the settlement would eliminate some of the risk from an eventual
Supreme Court ruling. Patients would be assured of receiving settlement
money even if the Supreme Court rules in Bayer's favor. And Bayer would
be protected from potentially larger costs if the high court rules
against it.
Germany-based Bayer, which acquired Roundup maker Monsanto in 2018,
disputes the assertion that Roundup's key ingredient, glyphosate, can
cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But the company has warned that mounting
legal costs are threatening its ability to continue selling the product
in U.S. agricultural markets.
“Litigation uncertainly has plagued the company for years, and this
settlement gives the company a road to closure,” Bayer CEO Bill Anderson
said Tuesday.
The proposed settlement was filed in St. Louis Circuit Court in
Missouri, home to Bayer's North America crop science division and the
state where many of the lawsuits have been brought. The settlement still
needs the court's approval.
Settlement payouts to the sick would vary
About 200,000 Roundup-related claims have been made against Bayer. That
includes more than 125,000 plaintiffs who sued since 2015, according to
the settlement documents. Few cases have gone to jurors, with 13
verdicts for Bayer and 11 for plaintiffs, including a $2.1 billion award
by a Georgia jury last year. Others already have been resolved through
separate settlements, including two recent ones that would take care of
about 77,000 claims, the court documents said.
The newly proposed nationwide settlement is designed to address most of
the remaining lawsuits, as well as any additional cases brought in the
coming years by people who were exposed to Roundup before Tuesday. If
too many plaintiffs opt out of the proposed settlement, Bayer said it
reserves the right to cancel it. But Bayer did not specify how many
opt-outs would have to occur.
The deal calls for Bayer to make annual payments into a special fund for
up to 21 years, totaling as much as $7.25 billion. The amount of money
paid out to individuals would vary depending on how they used Roundup,
how old they were when diagnosed and the severity of their non-Hodgkin
lymphoma.
An agricultural, industrial or turf worker exposed at length to Roundup
would receive an average of $165,000 if they were diagnosed with an
aggressive form of the illness while younger than age 60, according to
the proposed settlement. Meanwhile, a residential Roundup user diagnosed
between the ages of 60-77 with a less aggressive form of the illness
would receive an average of $20,000. And those diagnosed at age 78 or
older would get an average of $10,000.
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A billboard supporting legislation that would provide legal
protection to manufacturers of pesticides is shown in Jefferson
City, Mo., May 13, 2024. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb, File)
 “No settlement can erase a
diagnosis, but this agreement is designed to ensure that both
today’s and tomorrow’s patients have access to meaningful
compensation,” said attorney Christopher Seeger, who would represent
current claimants under the settlement.
Whether that compensation seems meaningful to patients remains to be
seen. Attorney Matt Clement, who represents about 280 Roundup
plaintiffs, said he was surprised by the proposed settlement and
expects a lot of his clients will opt out.
The proposed payouts “are exceedingly too small,” Clement said.
Bayer gets Trump's backing in court
Because of lawsuits, Bayer already has stopped using glyphosate in
Roundup sold in the U.S. residential lawn and garden market. But
glyphosate remains in agricultural products. It is designed to be
used with genetically modified seeds that can resist the
weedkiller’s deadly effect, thus allowing farmers to produce more
while conserving the soil by tilling it less.
Though some studies associate glyphosate with cancer, the EPA has
said it is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans when used as
directed. The federally approved label for Roundup includes no
warning of cancer.
Bayer contends that federal pesticide laws preempt states from
adopting additional labeling for products and thus prohibit
failure-to-warn lawsuits brought under state laws. Bayer is making
that argument to the Supreme Court in an appeal of a Missouri case
that awarded $1.25 million to a man who developed non-Hodgkin
lymphoma after spraying Roundup on a community garden in St. Louis.
President Donald Trump's administration has weighed in on Bayer’s
behalf, reversing the position of former President Joe Biden's
administration and putting it at odds with some supporters of the
Make America Healthy Again agenda who oppose giving the company the
legal immunity it seeks.
The company simultaneously has been lobbying state legislatures to
shield pesticide manufacturers from state failure-to-warn lawsuits
when their products follow federal labeling requirements. North
Dakota became the first state to enact such a law last April.
Georgia became the second state to do so in May.
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