$3.2M New York Bayer Settlement Funds Awarded to Pollinator Conservation Groups

New York Attorney General Letitia James has awarded $3.2 million in grants to pollinator conservation grants from a 2023 $6.9 million settlement with Bayer/Monsanto for false advertising. James started the investigation against Bayer/Monsanto in 2020 on the suspicion that it was violating a 1996 settlement with the Office of the Attorney General by making false claims about the safety of Roundup.

Specifically, the 2020 investigation and 2023 settlement focused on the safety of Roundup on the environment, including pollinators and wildlife. Bayer was making claims that Roundup products “won’t harm anything but weeds” and “do not pose a threat to the health of animal wildlife.” Through the investigation, AG James determined these claims were unsubstantiated and violated the terms of the 1996 settlement.

34 New York organizations have received awards ranging from $9,000 to $500,000. Friends of Riverside Salem was given the largest grant amount of $500,000 to create three pollinator gardens, host educational events, and to launch a new certification program. The grants primarily provide funding for organizations to create and/or maintain pollinator habitats to help restore populations of pollinators that have been harmed by the use of pesticides like Roundup.

“Pollinators are the unsung heroes of our environment, yet their very existence has been threatened by the harmful impacts of pesticides, habitat destruction, and climate change,” said Attorney General James. “These grants are a down payment on a more sustainable future for New York. By investing in grassroots initiatives and community-led conservation, we are laying the groundwork for long-term environmental health so that future generations may live in a healthy, green, and vibrant New York.”

The Empire State Native Pollinator Survey report in 2022 found that “Using conservative criteria, 38% of New York’s native pollinators (of our focal taxa only) are at risk of extirpation from NY. In the worst-case scenario, as much as 60% of the native insect pollinator fauna may be at risk.”

The Center for Biological Diversity released a report in 2017 titled “Pollinators in Peril.” The authors found that more than half of the native bee species with enough data to assess are declining. 347 native bee species (about 25%) are “imperiled and at increasing risk of extinction.” The authors wrote “A primary driver of these declines is agricultural intensification, which includes habitat destruction and pesticide use.”

“One in every three bites of our food depends on wild and domesticated pollination. Pollinators play an important role in maintaining biodiversity and supporting food production systems,” said Arturo Garcia-Costas, Program Director of Local, National, and International Environment, The Trust. “The Trust is proud to make this critical investment in reversing pollinator population decline.”

Bayer has been battling a wave of lawsuits since acquiring Monsanto and the flagship product Roundup in 2018, which contains the active ingredient glyphosate. Bayer has been lobbying state and federal legislators in an attempt to get a liability shield for harm caused to humans by spraying the product. In May, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed a bill into law that provides immunity to pesticide companies as long as they comply with EPA labeling requirements. North Dakota was the first to pass a protection bill for pesticide manufacturers in April.

The Georgia bill passed just a month after a Georgia jury awarded a man $2.1 billion for claims that Roundup use caused his non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. It is the biggest settlement so far and is expected to be challenged by Bayer.

Bayer has consistently made claims about the need for glyphosate and other pesticides to achieve success in agriculture. The HighWire reported in April about a new study showing the use of genetically modified herbicide-resistant seeds has not decreased the use of pesticides as companies like Bayer have claimed.

The use of herbicide-tolerant crops has only increased the use of glyphosate. The number of soybean acres sprayed with glyphosate increased from 9.2 million in 1994 to 113 million in 2018, while the percentage of soybean hectares sprayed with glyphosate increased from 15% to 87%.

Bayer has paid $10 billion so far in settlements for harms allegedly caused by Roundup, including non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. The company has spent more than half of the $16 billion it has set aside to resolve these claims.

Bayer has warned that it may have to stop producing Roundup if it does not obtain immunity for harms allegedly caused by the product. The company has approved a plan to dilute shares to cover the costs of additional litigation settlements associated with glyphosate.

Shares of Bayer stock have dropped by 75% since the company acquired Monsanto. The EPA is still working on an updated review of glyphosate after a court ruled that the human health portion of the review was flawed. The agency has until 2026 to complete and finalize that review.