Supreme Court hands Monsanto a win on Roundup

Supreme Court hands Monsanto a win on Roundup

The Supreme Court on Thursday restricted Americans’ ability to sue pesticide makers over alleged health harms stemming from their products.

In a 7-2 ruling, the court held that some claims that pesticide companies failed to warn users of their products’ health risks are blocked under federal law.

The case stemmed from the claim of cancer patient John Durnell, who sued Monsanto, saying the company did not give an adequate warning of cancer risk related to its Roundup weedkiller. Under Missouri state law, he was awarded $1.25 million.

Monsanto, which is owned by Bayer, challenged the verdict, arguing that Durnell’s failure-to-warn claim was barred by the nation’s pesticide law, noting that the label Roundup is required to bear by the EPA does not include a cancer warning. 

The case centered on whether plaintiffs like Durnell can sue pesticide companies like Monsanto in state court if they do not warn of health effects that go beyond those that are formally recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Currently, the EPA says that key Roundup ingredient glyphosate is “unlikely to be a human carcinogen” and so the company does not have to put a cancer warning on its label.

Meanwhile, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA),........

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