#glyphosate

tha' FOCK?!?!?

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Relevant to this story, on June 23, 2026, the US Supreme Court issued an opinion siding with the maker of Roundup weedkiller. In a 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court held that the maker of Roundup (Bayer) cannot be sued in state courts for failure to warn because federal regulators have found a cancer link unlikely and do not require a warning label. Federal law also bars states from imposing additional or different labeling requirements, the opinion from Justice Brett Kavanaugh states. That opinion should have no bearing on the lawsuit described below.

Excerpt from this story from The New Lede:

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is violating the law by failing to turn over records related to an executive order issued by President Donald Trump protecting production of the controversial pesticide glyphosate, according to a lawsuit filed Monday.

The lawsuit, filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, seeks to force the USDA to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request the center submitted on Feb. 26 requesting records related to how and why the order was developed. 

“The main thing we’re hoping to understand is who in particular pushed for this?” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at The Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit organization that advocates for environment and health issues. 

The order was widely questioned by public health and environmental groups who saw the move by the Trump administration as directly benefitting Germany’s Bayer, which manufactures glyphosate in the US and is a key supplier of glyphosate-based herbicides, such as Roundup. Glyphosate herbicides have been linked to health issues such as cancer, and Bayer is currently fending off tens of thousands of lawsuits brought by people suffering from cancer they blame on exposure to the company’s products.

Bayer has been lobbying for federal and state laws to protect it from further litigation, and has asked the US Supreme Court for a ruling that would preempt key claims in the lawsuits. 

Citing national security, the February order was issued under the Defense Production Act. The order calls for the defense of both glyphosate and elemental phosphorus, the raw material used to make controversial white phosphorus weapons. 

According to the World Health Organization, white phosphorus can cause deep and severe burns, penetrating even through bone. Because of this, its specific uses are regulated by international humanitarian law.

Bayer is currently the only domestic producer of both elemental phosphorus and glyphosate.

The Center for Biological Diversity points out that the executive order is unique in its language granting “immunity” to chemical companies that make glyphosate.

"People who were exposed, workers who were never warned, consumers who trusted a label—they now have fewer tools to use to fight back. And the corporations responsible for that harm have more protection than ever."

Public health advocates, legal experts, and members of Congress were among those outraged on Thursday by the US Supreme Court's ruling in favor of Monsanto -- and, effectively, against thousands of people who argue that its weedkiller Roundup caused their cancer.

Jay Feldman, executive director of the organization Beyond Pesticides, blasted the 7-2 decision as "a tragic setback for public and environmental health, allowing companies that produce toxic pesticides to evade the most basic of responsibilities, warning consumers that their products may cause cancer and other deadly diseases." ...

The closely watched case stems from a state-level lawsuit and a resulting verdict in favor of John Durnell, a Missouri man who argued that Monsanto's glyphosate-based Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer, which is in remission after multiple rounds of chemotherapy. A jury agreed the herbicide's label should have had a cancer warning.

The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as probably carcinogenic to humans over a decade ago, but the US Environmental Protection Agency and Bayer still insist it is safe. In a majority opinion penned by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the country's high court agreed with the company's argument that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts Durnell's failure-to-warn claim under state law. ...

Despite returning to office with a promise to "Make America Healthy Again" alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's administration "didn't sit on the sidelines -- it lobbied the Supreme Court to strip Americans of their right to sue. And its tactics worked," Cook pointed out. "When a president uses the vast power of the federal government to protect a pesticide company from accountability -- instead of the people he swore to serve -- our system is no longer working for ordinary Americans."

The Trump administration backed Bayer, the maker of Roundup, angering prominent voices in the "Make America Healthy Again" movement.

Many prominent figures in the "Make America Healthy Again" movement said they felt betrayed Thursday after the Supreme Court ruled that Bayer, the manufacturer of Roundup, did not need to warn consumers of a potential cancer risk associated with its weed killer.

The ruling is likely to prevent thousands of lawsuits from arguing in state courts that Roundup should come with a cancer warning.

Worries about chemicals in the food supply have long animated a subset of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s followers known as "MAHA moms." The group rallied in front of the Supreme Court during oral arguments in April, and a smaller cohort expressed their concerns about underregulation of pesticides directly to Kennedy and President Donald Trump at a White House meeting that month.

Thursday's ruling gave new fuel to the view within the movement that the Trump administration has prioritized the interests of the agrochemical industry.

"The decision is sickening and would have never happened had the administration not given Bayer Monsanto a favor," Vani Hari, a high-profile MAHA voice who goes by the moniker "Food Babe," said in a text message. Bayer bought Monsanto, the original manufacturer of Roundup, in 2018. ...

The plaintiff -- a Missouri man named John Durnell -- sued Monsanto in 2019, alleging that two decades of Roundup use had caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. A jury sided with him in 2023, awarding him $1.25 million, but the Supreme Court took up the case on appeal. The Trump administration backed Bayer's petition....

In a 7-2 ruling Thursday, the court said Bayer cannot be sued in state courts because federal regulations have found that a cancer link to Roundup is unlikely and does not require a warning label.

The Environmental Protection Agency determined in 2020, during the first Trump administration, that glyphosate is unlikely to be a human carcinogen. Environmental groups sued, and a federal appeals court ruled that the EPA had not adequately explained its analysis. The EPA agreed to update its evaluation, though it has not published a new version yet.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, classified glyphosate in 2015 as "probably carcinogenic to humans."

A number of studies on animals and humans have suggested that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is linked to cancer. A 2019 analysis found a "compelling link" between human exposures to glyphosate-based herbicides and an increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. And a study last year found that even low doses of glyphosate caused cancer in rats. A 2023 study of male farmers also found an association between glyphosate exposure and oxidative stress, a key marker of cancer.

Kelly Ryerson, a prominent MAHA activist known as "Glyphosate Girl," said the Supreme Court ruling had cost the Trump administration some MAHA movement loyalty. ...

"MAHA moms are not as motivated to vote at this point because we're not getting what we expected," Michaela Bardossas, a nutritionist who works with a MAHA advocacy group called Moms Across America, told NBC News in April.

"If these Republicans want to stay in power, then they need to step up and they need to show their support for the people that voted them in," she said, adding, "The pesticide issue has been a huge slap in the face." ...

Some scientists who study the health risks of glyphosate have qualms with the EPA's 2020 analysis. At a symposium in Seattle in March, dozens of international scientists concluded that glyphosate can cause cancer, adding that the strongest evidence points to an increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

A 2019 analysis in the journal Environmental Sciences Europe described differences between the studies used for the International Agency for Research on Cancer's analysis and for the EPA's. The IARC, it said, relied mostly on peer-reviewed research, while the EPA relied mostly on unpublished studies, some of which were commissioned by the pesticide industry.