Roundup herbicide risk rises for Bayer

Bayer faces lawsuits from 18,400 plaintiffs claiming that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, made them ill. The tally, revealed in the firm’s second-quarter earnings report, is an increase of 5,000 claimants from 3 months ago. In the three cases that have gone to trial since last June, when Bayer bought Monsanto and inherited the Roundup claims, juries have ordered millions of dollars in payouts. But judges in each case later significantly cut awards. In the most recent instance, a California state court judge reduced an award of more than $2 billion to $87 million. The next case goes to trial in Missouri later this month.