* Bayer to pay $500M into settlement fund within 10 days

* Judge calls payout 'significant' but will weigh

objections

* Final approval hearing set for July

By Diana Novak Jones

March 4 (Reuters) - A state court judge in Missouri gave

an initial green light on Wednesday to a proposed $7.25 billion

settlement to resolve thousands of lawsuits claiming Bayer's

Roundup weedkiller causes cancer.

Judge Timothy Boyer in St. Louis granted preliminary

approval to the deal struck between the German company and

attorneys seeking to represent a nationwide class of people who

say Roundup exposure caused their non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The deal is aimed at resolving most of the roughly 65,000

remaining claims pending in federal and state courts. Boyer

rejected a request by other lawyers who asked that he hold off

to give them more time to review the deal.

Boyer called the proposed payout "significant" but said he

would hear objections from people impacted before deciding at a

July hearing whether to grant final approval.

The plaintiffs say that Roundup's active ingredient,

glyphosate, causes cancer, and they developed non-Hodgkin's

lymphoma and other forms of the disease after using the

weedkiller at home or on the job.

Bayer, which acquired Roundup as part of its $63 billion

purchase of agrochemical company Monsanto in 2018, has said

decades of studies have shown Roundup and glyphosate are safe

and do not cause cancer. The proposed deal does not require

Bayer to admit liability or wrongdoing.

COMPANY CAN BACK OUT

The initial approval triggers a settlement provision

requiring Bayer to pay $500 million into a fund within 10 days

to cover costs such as notifying class members of the deal, and

opens a window for class members to object to the deal or opt

out, according to court records.

The company can back out if too many plaintiffs decline to

participate. Bayer Chief Executive Bill Anderson said on a call

with investors when the deal was announced that the company

requires the "vast majority" of the plaintiffs to participate.

Bill Dodero, Bayer's senior vice president and general

counsel, in a statement said the company remains "confident that

the long-term and well-financed class settlement plan, which is

supported by leading plaintiffs' law firms, warrants final

approval by the court."

One of the attorneys leading the group requesting more time

did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bayer, in a surprise announcement on February 17, said it

had negotiated with a group of plaintiffs' attorneys to strike a

nationwide settlement resolving nearly all the Roundup lawsuits

it faces by creating a new class action covering claims across

the country.