Bayer/Monsanto is quietly pushing to win Big Pharma-style legal immunity for the harms caused by pesticides. We cannot let them win. Action Alert!
THE TOPLINE
- Bayer/Monsanto is pursuing multiple avenues—Congress, the courts, and state legislatures—to secure legal immunity from lawsuits alleging that glyphosate (Roundup) causes cancer and other serious health harms.
- While a dangerous immunity provision was removed from a federal spending bill, the Trump administration is urging the Supreme Court to side with Bayer, a move that could wipe out state-level “failure to warn” claims nationwide.
- At the same time, Bayer-backed front groups and allies in Congress are pushing state bills and Farm Bill language that would silence cancer warnings and shield pesticide manufacturers from accountability.
For about a year now, we’ve been telling you about a multi-pronged effort on the part of Bayer/Monsanto to put an end to the massive wave of lawsuits resulting from the negative health effects of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, which is one of the most popular herbicides on the planet. What Bayer/Monsanto desires is what Big Pharma has with vaccines: legal immunity from lawsuits claiming that their products cause harm.
Late last year, we reported that a provision had been snuck into a large spending bill to accomplish just that. That language would have prohibited the EPA from taking any action that differs from its most recent human health assessment of a pesticide—no matter how outdated that assessment is. The intent was to make it nearly impossible for the EPA to update a pesticide label to reflect new findings on cancer, birth defects, endocrine disruption, or neurotoxicity.
The good news is that provision has been removed from the spending bill that will be considered by the full House. The bad news is that Bayer/Monsanto still has several irons in the fire to get what it wants.
SCOTUS to the Rescue?
Bayer/Monsanto has a legal case that is expected to be taken up by the Supreme Court, at least in part because the Trump Administration is urging the Court to take the case and side with Bayer.
Bayer insists that glyphosate does not cause cancer. In court, the company argues that, because the EPA has approved labels with no cancer warning, “failure to warn” claims at the state level should be preempted. “Failure to warn” is one of the most common and effective legal arguments used by plaintiffs suing Bayer/Monsanto. For failure to warn claims, plaintiffs must prove that the manufacturer knew or could have easily discovered the risk of its product, failed to warn consumers, and that failure caused the plaintiff’s injury. Courts so far have mostly rejected Bayer’s argument that federal pesticide law preempts state failure to warn laws.
Yet in a December filing with the Supreme Court, the Trump-appointed Solicitor General urged the Court to take up the Bayer’s appeal and rule in the company’s favor. If the Court agrees, a legal liability shield for pesticide manufacturers would be the law of the land.
State-level Push
Bayer/Monsanto is also pushing bills in state legislatures across the country to preempt failure to warn claims. This work is being done through a front group, the Modern Ag Alliance, founded by Bayer in 2024. So far, they’ve succeeded in two states, Georgia and North Dakota, but they are pushing their agenda across many other states. One of the fiercest battlegrounds is Iowa, where opposition groups dubbed the proposed law the “Cancer Gag Act” due to the state’s alarmingly high cancer rates. Iowa ranks second in the nation for new cancer cases, a statistic many fear is linked to heavy pesticide use.
But where there’s a will—and an army of highly paid corporate lobbyists—there’s a way.
The Farm Bill Gambit
If the Supreme Court fails to deliver, and states reject Bayer-backed immunity laws, there’s still another federal play: the upcoming Farm Bill. Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA), Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, is an open friend to Big Ag and has indicated support for the inclusion of pesticide legal immunity provisions in the upcoming Farm Bill. Rep. Thompson has also weighed in on the side of Bayer in its bid to get the Supreme Court to hear its case. It will come as little surprise that he has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in support from the agricultural services and crop production industries. If he helps Bayer/Monsanto win legal protection from failure to warn lawsuits, it will have been money well spent.
This is a coordinated assault on public health, the right to know, and the ability of injured people to seek justice. Lawmakers must reject pesticide immunity schemes at every level, defend state authority to protect residents, and ensure that corporations are held accountable when their products cause harm. Our health, our democracy, and our right to the truth depend on it.
Action Alert!
