Millions use Roundup. The Supreme Court just made a major decision about it
Thousands of people who say Roundup caused their cancer were dealt a blow in court this week when the Supreme Court opted to protect the weedkiller’s parent company from a flood of lawsuits. In a 7-2 decision issued on Thursday, the country’s highest court said that the German pharmaceutical company Bayer can’t be sued at the state level over claims that it did not sufficiently warn consumers about cancer risks associated with the herbicide Roundup. Bayer owns Monsanto, which makes Roundup. The Supreme Court sided with Bayer, ruling that federal regulations preempt state-level lawsuits involving Roundup, the popular brand name for the herbicide glyphosate. The EPA does not require products including glyphosate to be sold with a cancer warning and Bayer complies with the agency’s guidelines for its top-selling herbicide. The Supreme Court decision elevated a case from Missouri resident John Durnell, who claimed that two decades of exposure to Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of blood cancer. Durnell filed a successful state lawsuit against Monsanto in 2019, arguing that the company’s product should come with a warning label addressing cancer risks. After an appeal, the case made its way to the Supreme Court. In its majority opinion, the court sided with Monsanto on the grounds that federal laws take precedence over the state law that Durnell’s lawsuit hinged on and “expressly pre-empt” Durnell’s claim. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and Justice Neil Gorsuch dissented in the decision. “Importantly, EPA’s regulations require a pesticide manufacturer such as Monsanto to use the EPA-approved pesticide label—here, the Roundup label without a cancer warning—unless and until EPA approves or requires a different label,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote. Because the EPA regulates pesticides under a law known as the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), states can’t put their own additional or substitute warning labels on products like