Bayer says it may stop producing glyphosate, the world’s most popular weedkiller unless it can get court protection against lawsuits blaming the herbicide for causing cancer. The Wall Street Journal says Bayer currently produces about 40 percent of the world’s glyphosate needs, which farmers use to kill weeds that threaten their crops.
Over the last ten years, the herbicide has also caught Bayer up in a number of lawsuits. In early March, Bayer told farmers, suppliers, and retailers that it may have to stop selling Roundup, which would force U.S. farmers to rely on imported glyphosate from China. “We’re pretty much reaching the end of our road,” Bayer Chief Executive Bill Anderson told the Journal. “We’re not talking years but months instead.”
The USDA points out that more than 90 percent of soybeans, corn, and cotton crops planted in the U.S. are genetically modified to withstand the glyphosate-based weedkiller.
