Bayer settles Roundup labelling case

German chemical giant Bayer AG has agreed to pay US$39.6M to settle a class action in the USA over the labelling of its controversial Roundup weedkiller, which contains glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide which has been linked to cancer, Deutsche Welle (DW) reports.

According to documents revealed to a court in Kansas city, Bayer reached an agreement with several plaintiffs but the court must still approve the settlement, DW said on 31 March.

The lawsuit centred on how Monsanto, which Bayer acquired for US$60bn in 2018, failed to list glyphosate’s health risks in Roundup labelling.

The settlement requires an improvement to Roundup labelling, with Bloomberg reporting that language saying that glyphosate only affected an enzyme found in plants had to be removed.

Bayer still faces 48,600 lawsuits in the USA over the alleged cancer risks associated with Roundup.

“This agreement is not related to the Roundup product liability litigation, for which the parties continue to mediate in good faith,” Bayer said.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been sued by multiple groups over its January decision to re-approve glyphosate, thehill.com reported.

One lawsuit against the EPA was filed on behalf of the Center for Food Safety (CFS), Beyond Pesticides, the Rural Coalition, Organización en California de Lideres Campesinas, and the Farmworker Association of Florida.

“EPA’s half-completed, biased, and unlawful approval sacrifices the health of farmworkers and endangered species at the altar of Monsanto profits,” CFS legal director George Kimbrell was quoted by thehill.com as saying in a statement.

In re-approving the chemical earlier this year, the EPA said “there was insufficient evidence to conclude that glyphosate plays a role in any human diseases”.

Glyphosate is the most commonly used herbicide among farmers.

IN BRIEF

USA: Plant-based technology company Calyxt has licensed a new method from the University of Minnesota to help increase efficiency in gene edited plants.

Amyris tech to give boost to CBD skin care

US biotech ingredients firm Amyris hopes to be the first company to produce highly pure and efficacious cannabidiol (CBD) from fermentation technology at commercial scale, CosmeticsDesign.com reported on 17 March.

The method had the potential to reduce the time needed to edit plants from one year to several months and could help bring consumer-desired products, such as better tasting plant proteins, to the market faster, Calyxt said.

The company expected to launch at least six product candidates before 2024, including a hemp product in 2020; an alfalfa product in 2021 through its collaboration with S&W Seed Company; a high fibre wheat product candidate as early as 2022; and four additional product candidates either via its integrated business model or in collaboration with third parties.

The company supplied biotech ingredients to the Biossance skin care and Pipette baby care brands and teamed up with a cellular agriculture company called LAVVAN in 2019 to accelerate progress toward this goal, with Amyris contributing the R&D and LAVVAN handling the manufacturing and commercialisation, the report said.

CBD is a compound found in the cannabis plant with growing medical, food and skin care applications.

Amyris specialises in modifying the DNA of yeast to produce cosmetic and health ingredients such as its Neossance Squalane emollient, us

ing sugarcane as a feedstock.

It posted new research data recently highlighting the advantages of CBD skin care with Neossance Squalane, CosmeticsDesign.com said.

Studies conducted by Cosmo Technical Center and the R&D Division of NIKKOL Group looked at how various oils and fats carried and delivered CBD to the epidermis, comparing medium-chain triglycerides, jojoba oil, sun

flower oil, hemp seed oil and Neossance Squalane.

According to data posted on the Amyris site, the company’s squalane was a more effective carrier by 10-40 times than the other oils.

CosmeticsDesign.com said cannabinoids were expected to be a big opportunity in the cosmetics market and CBD was just one of several cannabinoids being used in skin care and wellness products.

CGB acquires QTI’s non-GM food grade soyabean business Grain and transportation business Consolidated Grain and Barge Co (CGB) has acquired the food-grade soyabean division of Quality Technology International (QTI). “This new business fits perfectly into our market development group as we work to expand in the food and consumer areas for non-GMO, speciality and organic areas,” said CGB’s general manager of market development on 2 April.

The new business would trade, ship and sell speciality food soyabeans via container to Japan, and domestically for processing and resale to Japanese food manufacturers. Common food uses for these soyabeans would be Japanese staples including tofu, miso and natto.

Health product provider QTI said the sale would allow the company to focus on its growing animal health and nutrition division.

CGB is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CGB Enterprises. The company operates 95 grain facilities across the US Midwest and also has operations in logistics and transportation, crop insurance, agri-finance, soyabean processing, producer risk management and other related businesses.