The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Monsanto Company v. In the Durnell case, it sided with pesticide manufacturer Bayer and ruled that federal law preempts lawsuits brought by cancer patients who claim Roundup products caused their illnesses.
According to Food and Water Watch, the ruling extends legal protections to all pesticide companies, allowing patients to be harmed by toxic pesticides without having to go through lawsuits that have cost Bayer billions of dollars.
Roundup was created by Monsanto in the 1970s and is one of the most popular herbicides in the world. Concerns about glyphosate, a chemical that is absorbed by plants and travels to their roots, blocking enzymes they use for growth, have led to the largest wave of class action lawsuits in U.S. history.
In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling, Food & Water Watch legal director Tarah Heinzen said the ruling was a disaster for public health.
“Once again, the Supreme Court has sided with big business over people and the environment. Today’s ruling is a disaster for public health, and it has Trump’s name written all over it,” Heinzen said.
“If you needed any further proof that the president’s pretend mission to ‘Make America Healthy Again’ was a farce, today’s decision is all the proof you need: Trump has been all too willing to support Bayer’s anti-pollution campaign, and the administration has doubled down on its failed pesticide regulation plan.”
“Industrial agriculture is polluting America. The fight against toxic pesticides does not end here. Congress must pass the Pesticide Injury Accountability Act to protect access to justice for everyone harmed by these toxic chemicals, and finally a Farm Bill that puts public health first. Until then, the Supreme Court must close its doors to tens of thousands of sick and suffering Americans.”
The court ruling came despite evidence that glyphosate, the main ingredient in Bayer’s Roundup pesticide, is carcinogenic and that the Environmental Protection Agency’s pesticide registration process was fatally flawed. The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined glyphosate as a probable carcinogen since 2015. Roundup is the most widely used pesticide in the United States.
The decision concludes Bayer’s years of efforts to curb cancer litigation. Since acquiring Monsanto in 2018, Bayer has spent more than $11 billion to settle more than 100,000 cancer lawsuits related to Roundup.
The Center for Food Safety, a statutory nonprofit organization that addresses food and agricultural issues in the United States, submitted a brief We brought this case to the Supreme Court on behalf of a broad group of nonprofit public interest stakeholders representing farmers, farm workers, health care professionals, consumer advocates, and environmentalists.
“Overturning decades of established law, the Supreme Court today eliminated one of the ways the public can hold pesticide companies accountable for product harm,” said George Kimbrell, legal director of the Center for Food Safety.
“But the fight is not over. EPA’s pesticide regulation has become more important to protect public health and the public interest. We will continue to hold EPA accountable even when it does not. And states and other municipalities have other powerful roles to play, too. The Roundup cancer case is a signal that people are tired of companies polluting their health and the environment and want to choose a different future for their food. This decision is tragic, but it is a clear call for lasting action. Americans must take action: Stay in power. “We tell the truth and demand that our representatives protect their health, not corporate profits.”
According to Food and Water Watch, Bayer has been pushing the widely opposed Cancer Gag Act legislation across the country in several states and Congress to protect pesticide companies from health-related lawsuits. So far this year, immunity bills have failed in 11 states, were left out of the House Farm Bill and were left out of the Senate version.
Leaders of other public health watchdog groups also spoke out against the ruling.
Jen Honeycutt, founder of Moms Across America and advocate for the MAHA movement, issued a public statement Thursday calling the ruling “worse than treason” and saying it reflects a betrayal of President Trump’s commitment to the MAHA movement. “This is truly chemical warfare against the American people.” she said
In a separate statement, MAHA movement leader and Trump supporter Alex Clark wrote to
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said the Supreme Court decision was corrupt. “Today is a truly heartbreaking day as the American people witnessed the corruption of the Supreme Court by massive gifts from billionaires and interested parties. The Court, which accepts gifts ranging from RVs to tuition to lavish gifts, sided with the rich and powerful multinational corporations, overturning years of precedent and ultimately effectively dismissing hundreds and hundreds, in fact thousands of cases. They sided with giant multinational corporations against the people.
Shaughnessy Naughton, chair of 314 Action, said the High Court’s ruling gave chemical manufacturers a “get out of jail free card” when it came to working with chemicals and the nation’s food supply. “This decision dismisses over 100,000 lawsuits and actually leaves patients with a poison pill and a political problem. This is a major setback for the MAHA movement and is exactly what the Trump administration has demanded. RFK Jr was also quick to approve it. I think it is important to point out what a betrayal this is to the MAHA movement. RFK Jr. built his reputation by suing Monsanto on behalf of patients who may have developed cancer from its products and promising to ban glyphosate. He didn’t and he didn’t do anything to change the direction of how we use this to produce food. “This is a huge win for chemical manufacturers and a real loss for the farmers and the American people who will have to take this to court.”
Kayla Hancock, public health project director at Protect Our Care, said the move supports a new view from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy. “It is shocking how careless our nation’s Health Secretary RFK Jr. has been after decades of fighting against the use of these chemicals. This company has essentially caved in to the Trump administration’s anti-pollution and corporate agenda and defended this decision to put more Americans at risk while abandoning cancer survivors who are currently denied a path to compensation for their injuries.”
David Murphy, founder of United We Eat and former finance director for Kennedy’s presidential campaign, also said the ruling would jeopardize the health of Americans. “For decades, Republicans have preached about the importance of states’ rights and ‘pro-life values,’ but today’s ruling upholding Bayer-Monsanto’s right to protect itself from cancer lawsuits further proves that this is nothing more than empty rhetoric from a morally bankrupt party and a Supreme Court that continues to prioritize corporate interests over the health of Americans.”
