Bayer Petitions U.S. Supreme Court to Stop Roundup Herbicide Lawsuits

Bayer, Inc. has filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of a lower court decision finding that its popular weed killer Roundup causes cancer. The Missouri Supreme Court declined to hear Bayer’s appeal of the lower court’s decision, so the drug giant went to the highest court in the land.¹ This is Bayer’s second attempt in just three years to have the Supreme Court dismiss lawsuits, which found evidence that the chemical glyphosate in the company’s weed killer Roundup causes cancer.²

One of the many plaintiffs suing Bayer over Roundup causing cancer is John Durnell, who successfully argued that Roundup caused his non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The 2023 Missouri court’s decision found that that Bayer (which bought Monsanto in 2018) violated the state’s failure to warn law.³ Durnell was awarded $125 million by the jury due to Bayer’s failure to warn that their weed killer causes cancer. The ground breaking verdict was upheld on appeal in February 2025.⁴

EPA Refuses to Acknowledge Glyphosate Risks

Bayer argues that the decision contradicts federal law. The drug giant contends that the label on its Roundup product was approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and cannot be changed without the federal agency’s approval.⁵ Since the EPA alleges that glyphosate poses no risk to humans, Bayer alleges that Roundup’s current label without cancer warnings is sufficient.⁶ Accordingly, Bayer argues that the state’s failure to warn claim should be pre-empted by federal law. Missouri courts are divided on the preemption question.⁷

Numerous Studies Have Shown the Link Between Glyphosate and Cancer

Bayer’s petition seeks to limit legal claims that Roundup containing the herbicide glyphosate causes cancer.⁸ Studies have shown a link between the glyphosate and several cancers, including lymphoma. A recent study published in Frontiers in Cancer Control and Society has shown a strong link between glyphosate and leukemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, bladder, colon, lung, and pancreatic cancers.⁹

Bayer Refuses to Take Responsibility

Bayer has been named in 67,000 claims brought cancer victims who used Roundup and then were diagnosed with cancer. The drug company has apportioned $16 billion dollars to handle these lawsuits. In 2020, Bayer agreed to a $10 billion settlement to resolve about 100,000 lawsuits. Despite the high pay-outs, Bayer continues to shirk responsibility and deny that its popular weed killer causes cancer as the drug giant fight cancer victim’s claims and appeals court decisions.^{10 11}

In spite of the mounting evidence of the link between Roundup and cancer, the pharmaceutical titan is seeking to deny victims and their families’ fair compensation. Bayer is trying to set a legal precedent that would gut consumer rights in the state courts, arguing that the EPA’s federal approval of glyphosate shields the company from liability in state courts and, therefore, blocks consumer lawsuits.¹²

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