Supreme Court to Hear Bayer Roundup Cancer Appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday that it will hear an appeal from Bayer, the German chemical giant that owns the Roundup weedkiller brand, in a case stemming from a Missouri man's claim that long-term exposure to the product caused his cancer. The decision could determine whether federal pesticide regulations shield the company from thousands of similar state lawsuits alleging inadequate warnings about health risks.

At issue is a 2023 verdict in which a St. Louis jury awarded John Durnell $1.25 million after he developed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which he attributed to years of spraying Roundup on weeds without protective gear. The jury found Monsanto, Roundup's original maker and a Bayer subsidiary since 2018, liable for failing to warn of potential cancer risks under Missouri law, though it rejected claims that the product was defective and awarded no punitive damages. The Missouri Court of Appeals upheld the award, prompting Bayer to appeal to the Supreme Court in April 2025.

Bayer contends that the Environmental Protection Agency's longstanding approval of Roundup's labels, which omit cancer warnings, preempts such state claims under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide,...