BERLIN—Bayer AG on Tuesday disclosed another jump in the number of lawsuits alleging the German company’s recently acquired weedkillers cause cancer in a sign that an issue that has wiped billions off Bayer’s market valuation isn’t fading away. Lawsuits from 9,300 plaintiffs were pending at the end of October, compared with 8,700 at the end of August, Bayer said. Plaintiffs claim that Roundup weedkillers, which Bayer acquired in its takeover of Monsanto Co., made them ill and that Monsanto knew or should have known of the...
Lawsuits accusing Bayer weedkiller Roundup of causing cancer have increased from 8,700 in August to 9,300 in October. Bayer took ownership of the weedkiller as part of its acquisition of Monsanto. Plaintiffs claim Monsanto either knew, or should have known, the dangers of the product. Bayer argued that studies and regulators have said the weedkiller's compound is safe. Bayer has lost €30bn ($33.9bn) in market capitalisation since August, when a US jury ruled the company liable for a former groundskeeper's terminal non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The company has since launched an appeal against the decision.