Last month, Bayer reached a $2 billion settlement that would cover future legal claims that the weed killer Roundup causes cancer. 

While migrant farmworkers in Vermont are routinely exposed to the herbicide, the current settlement would likely exclude them from getting any of the money, experts say.

The $2 billion Bayer settlement establishes a fund that would pay between $5,000 and $200,000 per plaintiff over the next four years. Only those who have already developed cancer following exposure to Roundup are eligible to apply.

But Will Lambek, an organizer for the activist group Migrant Justice, said that condition is “the major exclusionary factor” that would make it nearly impossible for migrant farmworkers to receive compensation.

“It would be very likely that anybody who does get sick because of the accumulation of toxins in their system would be in their country of origin by the time they start presenting with symptoms,” Lambek said.