Bayer's Faces A Technical Breakdown

Bayer, a pesticide and seed company, warned on Monday that a supplier of a component for its widely used herbicide glyphosate has had technical difficulties, which may limit Bayer's ability to produce the product in the near future.

Bayer noted that the "technical breakdown" at its supplier came on top of a constrained supply scenario in global agricultural chemical markets, which is due in part to the worldwide pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic has indeed brought a standstill to various functioning sectors, making work difficult in the already dire situations. The increased health anxiety has caused a lack of workers, with people choosing not to risk their lives.

The business has claimed that its supplier is on the way to restarting its production levels. Moreover, they seem to have obtained extra supplies and taken other mitigating measures to assist in best managing this situation.

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Bayer's Roundup and RangerPro pesticides. It has been the subject of widespread lawsuits in several states, largely claimed by home gardeners who allege the weedkiller caused their cancer. Chemical inputs in agriculture have long been suspected to cause a lot of different health problems. The direct application of these on the plants may have caused a magnification effect leading to immense health implications on humans.

Bayer, which has resolved almost 100,000 complaints about billions of dollars, has filed a legal challenge with the United States Supreme Court, based mostly on repeated safety approvals from the federal environmental agency. Bayer informed industrial customers using glyphosate of the supply issue, claiming force majeure, which suspends a supplier's contractual obligations in the event of difficulties beyond its control.

Bayer stated in the letter that fixes at its supplier would take three months. The manufacturing issue, according to the spokesman, would also impair the in-house manufacture of glyphosate-containing products like Roundup.