(Dave Bedard photo)

U.S. judge to allow controversial evidence in Roundup cancer trials

Reuters — A federal judge overseeing lawsuits alleging Bayer’s glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide causes cancer on Monday tentatively allowed pieces of controversial evidence that the company had hoped to exclude from upcoming trials. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria during a hearing in San Francisco federal court called his decision “probably most disappointing for Monsanto,” the Bayer […] Read more


File photo of a sprayer at work on a field in France. (Debove Sophie/iStock/Getty Images)

France’s glyphosate exit seen 80 per cent complete by 2021

Paris | Reuters — France expects to have cut the use of glyphosate herbicide by 80 per cent by early 2021, its agriculture minister said on Friday, less than previously anticipated due to the number of farmers who will qualify for an exemption. In November 2017, President Emmanuel Macron pledged to ban glyphosate in France […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Health Canada dismisses glyphosate objections

Health Canada’s 2017 decision requiring no major changes to product labels for glyphosate herbicide will stand, despite the objections filed in its wake. The federal health department said Friday it has reviewed eight notices of objection received after it released its final re-evaluation decision on glyphosate in April 2017. The objections were filed with Health […] Read more


(Video screengrab via GenuityTraits.ca)

Canola, corn, soy traits to move forward with China approvals

Approvals from China are expected to allow several major trait developments to move ahead in Canadian canola, corn and soybean fields. The Reuters news service on Tuesday reported safety certificate approvals from China’s ministry of agriculture and rural affairs for biotech traits including: Bayer’s 88302, or TruFlex canola, approved in Canada since 2012; BASF’s RF3, […] Read more



(Dave Bedard photo)

U.S. judge selects first case in federal glyphosate litigation

Reuters — A U.S. judge overseeing the federal litigation against Bayer’s Monsanto unit over glyphosate-based herbicides allegedly causing cancer on Tuesday selected the first case to be tried in federal court in February 2019. U.S. District Judge Vince Chaabria in San Francisco in an order said the case of California resident Edwin Hardeman will be […] Read more



Werner Baumann, CEO of Bayer AG, at the annual general shareholders meeting in Bonn, Germany, May 25, 2018.  Photo: Reuters/File/Wolfgang Rattay

Bayer CEO says would consider glyphosate settlement depending on costs

St. Louis | Reuters – Bayer AG’s chief executive said this week the company might consider settling lawsuits over Monsanto’s glyphosate-containing weed-killers depending on how high court costs rise, but stressed it remained focused on defending the combined company against claims they cause cancer. Bayer acquired Monsanto this year for $63 billion. “If we can settle […] Read more

Photo: Reuters

U.S. judge affirms Monsanto weed-killer verdict, slashes damages

Reuters – A U.S. judge on Monday affirmed a verdict against Bayer AG unit Monsanto that found its glyphosate-based weed-killers responsible for a man’s terminal cancer, sending the German company’s shares down 8 percent. In a ruling by San Francisco’s Superior Court of California, Judge Suzanne Bolanos said she would slash the punitive damages award […] Read more