Analysts have played down the risk that glyphosate faces potential withdrawal from the market in the US following the $289M jury award to a terminally ill California man who claimed Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer caused his cancer.

Stephens analyst Mark Connelly said there was "no chance at all that glyphosate or glyphosate tolerant seed will be withdrawn from the market," although the issue is unlikely to go away any time soon because of the different scientific standards being applied.

Connelly expects the Monsanto verdict to be overturned on appeal and says California’s “constructive” role in environmental protection has sometimes made it “a leading place to pursue litigation which would not be taken very seriously elsewhere”.

Source: Bloomberg First Word via Seeking Alpha