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A new study of pesticide exposure in Peru finds a mechanistic association between exposure and cancer, and shows how “complex pesticide mixtures” can contribute to the development of cancer in people, even at exposure levels currently deemed safe.

The authors of the study, published in Nature Health, said the findings call into question classical toxicological approaches that are based on the evaluation of isolated substances and the setting of safety thresholds, and demonstrate the importance of looking at the impacts of multiple pesticide mixtures.

US and European regulators should take urgent action to more tightly regulate glyphosate, the world’s most widely used weed killer, in light of strong scientific evidence that the pesticide can cause cancer and other health problems, a group of international scientists said on Friday.

The scientists, who gathered at a “glyphosate symposium” in Seattle March 25 – 26 to examine a range of research conducted over the last decade, determined that evidence showing glyphosate herbicides can harm human health “is now so strong that no additional delays in regulation of glyphosate can be justified.”

The group affirmed prior findings linking exposure to non-Hodgkin lymphoma and warned that harmful health impacts are being found at levels of exposure consistent with current use patterns.

A new analysis links high use of the weed killer glyphosate to elevated rates of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), particularly in the Midwest, reinforcing years of research linking cancer to the weed killer made popular by Monsanto.

The analysis by Food & Water Watch (FWW), a nonprofit public health advocacy group, looked at counties that spray the highest amounts of glyphosate herbicides in the country, focusing on those in the top 20% of glyphosate use on commodity crops.

Top US regulators met with Bayer’s CEO last year to discuss “litigation” issues – including “Supreme Court Action” over its glyphosate weed killer – just months before the Trump administration took a series of steps to boost Bayer’s case at the high court, internal government records show.

The June 17 meeting, between officials at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Bayer CEO Bill Anderson and two other top Bayer executives, came as Germany-based Bayer was working to quash costly US litigation brought by tens of thousands of people who allege they developed cancer from their use of the company’s glyphosate-based herbicides, such as Roundup.

 At the core of those lawsuits are claims that the company failed to warn users of the risk of cancer, as shown in several research studies over many years.

ayer’s proposed $7.25 billion class action settlement of Roundup litigation received preliminary approval from a Missouri court on Wednesday, rejecting opposition from a group of lawyers representing roughly 20,000 plaintiffs who claim they developed cancer from using the company’s herbicide products.

The decision from Missouri Circuit Court Judge Timothy Boyer allows for the start of a nationwide program to notify people about the class action settlement plan. Bayer, which bought Roundup maker in 2018, must deposit $500 million into a settlement fund within 10 days as part of the plan.

Syngenta, maker of a controversial pesticide linked to Parkinson’s disease, said on Tuesday that it would stop making its paraquat weed killer by the end of June.

The announcement comes as the company is facing several thousand lawsuits brought by people in the US who allege they developed Parkinson’s disease due to their exposure to Syngenta’s paraquat products.

A group of 14 law firms representing nearly 20,000 plaintiffs is seeking to intervene in Bayer’s proposed class-action settlement of Roundup litigation, citing concerns that the deal will not be fair to cancer sufferers.

The group filed both a motion to intervene and a motion for an extension of time for court preliminary approval of the deal in St Louis city circuit court in Missouri late on 24 February.

The law firms say the deal appears “unprecedented” and raises multiple “red flags”.

In an opening salvo aimed at convincing the US Supreme Court to curtail costly Roundup litigation, Bayer is citing support from President Donald Trump and US regulators while renewing a threat to stop sales of glyphosate-based herbicides to farmers if it does not prevail with the justices.

The Supreme Court agreed in January to hear Bayer’s arguments that federal law preempts lawsuits claiming that the company failed to warn users of a cancer risk associated with its weed killers because the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not required such cancer warnings. The court said at the time it would limit its review to only that question.

In a move enraging health and environmental advocates, President Donald Trump has signed an executive order protecting production of and providing “immunity” for glyphosate-based herbicides, such as Roundup, which have been linked to cancer and are the subject of widespread US litigation.

The order also protects domestic production of phosphorus, which is used in making glyphosate and other agricultural chemicals, as well as a range of other products, including some in military defense. Ensuring “robust domestic elemental phosphorus mining and United States-based production of glyphosate-based herbicides is central to American economic and national security,” the order states.

The Feb. 18 order cites authority under the Defense Production Act and instructs US Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to issue orders and regulations as “may be necessary to implement this order.”

The White House said “the threat of reduced or ceased production” of phosphorous and glyphosate herbicides “gravely endangers national security and defense, which includes food-supply security,” and the executive order cites glyphosate as a “cornerstone of this Nation’s agricultural productivity and rural economy.”

In a bold bid to put costly US Roundup litigation behind it, Bayer on Tuesday announced a $7.25 billion proposed class action settlement for users of its glyphosate-based weed killing products who have cancer now or develop cancer in the next several years, with average awards ranging from $10,000 to $165,000.

Such a settlement would include people currently suing the company and Roundup users who have not yet sued the company but may want to do so in the future. Tens of thousands of people have sued the company alleging exposure to the weed killers caused them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).

Bayer said the potential to get agreement on a class action settlement plan now was boosted by the decision by the US Supreme Court to agree to hear Bayer’s arguments that it should not be subject to lawsuits by people claiming the company failed to warn them of cancer risks associated with glyphosate herbicides if federal regulators didn’t require such a warning.