Bayer, the owner of subsidiary Monsanto, has been sued by approximately 13,000 persons in the United States, alleging that a chemical herbicide, glyphosate, causes a particular form of cancer, non-hodgkins lymphoma. The chemical is used to reduce agricultural pests that tend to reduce farming productivity. According to the EPA, "Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in U.S. agriculture and has been studied for decades. Glyphosate is used on more than 100 food crops, including glyphosate-resistant corn, soybean, cotton, canola and sugar beet. Non-agricultural uses include residential areas, aquatic areas, forests, rights of way, ornamentals and turf."^[1] Glyphosate contributes to increased crop yields per acre (globally valued at $6.76 billion) and a reduction in greenhouse gases (equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions of 11 million cars annually).^[2]

The EPA evaluated the risks of glyphosate to causing cancer, including the presence of trace amounts in various consumer food products, and concluded that the exposure amounts were far below the EPA's threshold consumption rate to cause concern about the residue presence.^[3] However, several court cases have resulted in multi-million to billion dollar verdicts in favor of several plaintiffs that have contracted non-hodgkins lymphoma after extensive use of the glyphosate product.^[4]

Discuss whether Bayer's conduct in selling glyphosate is ethical using an ethics perspective from the assigned reading from this week. Students whose last name begins with the letters A through M should argue that Bayer's sales of glyphosate is ethical, while those whose last name begins with the letters N through Z should argue that Bayer's sales are unethical. Initial responses should be 250-350 words and should include an accurate definition of an ethical perspective from the reading.