Bayer wants legislative help to fight its cancer lawsuits

FOR ALL the partisan rancour in American politics, the Trump period has produced some stunning convergences between left and proper. Republican isolationists and left-wing Democrats typically share a scepticism of American navy may. And financial populists on the left and proper can agree on resisting reform of entitlements comparable to Social Safety or supporting aggressive antitrust action. This dynamic has unfold to the states too. Take into account Missouri, the place trial attorneys (historically huge supporters of Democrats) not too long ago labored with a hard-right group to cease a change to tort legal guidelines.

This saga started in June 2018 when Bayer, a German pharmaceutical and chemical agency, purchased Monsanto, an American agrochemical big. The $63bn sale, which included Monsanto’s liabilities, has gone down as one of many worst mergers ever. Bayer has already paid out greater than $10bn in settlements for greater than 110,000 claims that Roundup, a weedkiller, is carcinogenic. The corporate has put aside some $6bn to resolve excellent claims. In the present day Bayer’s market capitalisation is lower than half what it paid for Monsanto six years in the past.