THE SCALE of the legal mess crop protection giant Bayer inherited upon its purchase of Monsanto was laid bare this week as the German-based business revealed there were over 42,000 lawsuits in the US alone alleging the herbicide Roundup has caused cancer.
Bayer has haemorrhaged around $43 billion in market value since acquiring Monsanto, with investors spooked by the ongoing lawsuits.
Already three Californian juries have awarded big damages payments to plaintiffs suing Bayer but the company has not come up with a class settlement proposal in spite of the increase in lawsuits.
Bayer announced this week there were 42,700 lawsuits registered in the US alone.
This is up from the 18,400 actions the company reported as recently in July.
The US legal sector has been advertising heavily to attract clients to lodge action against Bayer.
It was not all bad news from the company this week.
Better than expected profits in its pharmaceuticals segment saw Bayer's share price rise this week even with the lawsuit news.
In Australia there are two confirmed lawsuits, with individual cases filed in Victoria while there was mooted to be a class action in NSW but it is yet to be officially brought to the courts.