US Supreme Court sides with Bayer, limiting Roundup cancer lawsuits

The United States Supreme Court has sided with Bayer, the maker of Roundup weedkiller, in a ruling expected to block thousands of lawsuits alleging the product causes cancer. The decision marks a significant victory for the Germany-based agrochemical manufacturer, which acquired Roundup when it bought Monsanto in 2018.

The high court, in a 7-2 ruling, determined that the company cannot face failure-to-warn lawsuits in state courts. This is because federal regulations have found a cancer link unlikely and do not require a warning label. The justices overturned a jury verdict in Missouri that awarded $1.25 million to John Durnell, who claimed he developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma after years of exposure to glyphosate in Roundup.

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would require Monsanto to add a cancer warning to Roundup’s label even though federal law requires Monsanto to use the EPA-approved label without a cancer warning

Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, authoring the majority opinion, stated that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has concluded glyphosate does not cause cancer and does not require a cancer warning on Roundup. He argued that state law claims would force Monsanto to add a warning that federal law prohibits.

However, liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, dissented. Jackson called the ruling "remarkable and regrettable," asserting that it "unjustifiably closes the courthouse doors to state tort plaintiffs like Durnell." The torrent of litigation, with over 100,000 plaintiffs alleging a cancer link, had previously prompted Bayer to remove glyphosate from its consumer version of Roundup.

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remarkable and regrettable, for it unjustifiably closes the courthouse doors to state tort plaintiffs like Durnell