Bayer's Monsanto wins appeal in Roundup cancer lawsuit

By Victor Swezey

Bayer said an appeals court ruled in favor of its Monsanto unit in a case alleging the agricultural-chemical maker should have warned users about the cancer risk of its Roundup weedkiller.

The German pharmaceutical giant said Thursday that the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled unanimously that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act superseded state laws that formed the basis for the suit.

"The company is pleased with the unanimous decision from the Third Circuit holding that plaintiff's state-based warning claims are expressly preempted by FIFRA," it said. Bayer (XE:BAYN) bought Monsanto for more than $60 billion in 2018, and has faced a raft of lawsuits over the herbicide.

The company said the ruling on the Schaffner v. Monsanto case creates a circuit split among federal appellate courts, making a review by the U.S. Supreme Court necessary.

Bayer added that it stands by the Roundup products and says they aren't carcinogenic.

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08-15-24 1953ET

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