The future of Roundup is on the line as its owner, Bayer, ponders whether to end production.
Bayer mines elemental phosphorus in Soda Springs, Idaho, formulates glyphosate production in Muscatine, Iowa, and finishes the formulation and production in Luling, La.
“We have paid out over $10 billion in settlements, with no admission of fault or guilt. We stand behind the product. This is part of the litigation industry and the process that we have to make decisions around, said Jess Christiansen, head of crop science and sustainability communications for Bayer.
The company said a decision on Roundup will be made within months.
And now it is facing several class-action lawsuits in Canada.
Since Bayer’s predecessor, Monsanto, developed the glyphosate-containing Roundup and then genetically engineered corn and soybeans to survive its killing power, it has been one of the most-used weed killers in the world.
Now there are competitors who market glyphosate-containing herbicides, more crops have been engineered to survive fields sprayed with glyphosate, but more weeds are also evolving resistance.
