(Washington) The United States Supreme Court agreed on Friday to examine an appeal by German agrochemical giant Bayer on the admissibility of complaints based on the supposed risk of cancer linked to the herbicide Roundup, manufactured by its subsidiary Monsanto.
Published at
In a brief opinion, the Court with a conservative majority announced that it agreed to take up an appeal presented in April 2025 by Bayer, which bought the American Monsanto in 2018.
The question on which the nine judges of the Court will rule by the end of their annual session at the end of June concerns the admissibility of complaints filed in the various American states against products approved without health warnings by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In its appeal, the manufacturer cites the federal FIFRA pesticide law, arguing that it prohibits states from imposing additional health warnings.
Supported by the Trump administration, Bayer recalls that the EPA considers that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is not carcinogenic.
However, it is classified as a “probable carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The stakes are high, because tens of thousands of complaints are currently targeting Monsanto in the United States.
Since the acquisition of Monsanto, Bayer has already paid out more than 10 billion dollars to settle disputes linked to glyphosate and in recent months it has set aside more than 8 billion for those still ongoing.
At the origin of the proceedings before the Supreme Court, the conviction of Monsanto in October 2023 by a jury in Saint-Louis, Missouri, to compensate John Durnell, a man who developed a form of cancer which he attributes to his exposure to the controversial herbicide.
