German company Bayer on Thursday agreed to pay New York State $6.9 million to settle a lawsuit alleging it is offending consumers by marketing the glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup as a safe to have misled the product.
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The company and its subsidiary Monsanto “have repeatedly claimed in advertisements that Roundup-branded products containing the active ingredient glyphosate are safe and non-toxic without providing sufficient evidence to support this,” according to a press release from the state attorney general’s office.
These claims violate state laws against false and misleading advertising, as well as a 1996 agreement between the attorney general’s office and Monsanto in which the company agreed to stop making unsubstantiated safety claims about the herbicide, the statement said.
Authorities targeted ads claiming that Roundup only kills weeds, poses no threat to wildlife, or is no more dangerous than everyday products like dish soap.
Roundup is classified as “probably carcinogenic” by IARC, a branch of the World Health Organization (WHO), a classification disputed by the group.
“We are pleased to put an end to this matter,” the company responded in a message sent to AFP, stressing that the agreement relates to promotional practices and not the nature of the product itself.
The agreement does not mean that the group accepts the conclusions of the attorney general’s investigation, she added.
Bayer, which bought Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018, has since been embroiled in multiple weed killer lawsuits in the United States. Notably, in 2020, the group reached a $10 billion agreement to settle the lawsuits of former users.