US SUPREME COURT SIGNALS INTEREST IN ROUNDUP CASE

In early December, a California jury found that Roundup was not the cause of a plaintiff’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This is the second consecutive trial exonerating Roundup. The trial was in the California Superior Court.

In mid-December, the U.S. Supreme Court indicated interest in hearing a previous case alleging Roundup was the cause of a person’s cancer. Once the Supreme Court showed interest, Bayer announced it would not entertain any further settlement discussions with plaintiff lawyers.

A victory at the U.S. Supreme Court would put an end to litigation. Bayer is pursuing appeals in two of the three verdicts it lost, including the one the company hopes will be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bayer has said it should not be penalized for marketing a product deemed safe by the EPA and on which the agency would not allow a cancer warning to be printed.

In a statement, Bayer said, the U.S. government "has consistently found that glyphosate-based herbicides can be used safely and are not carcinogenic and has stated that a cancer warning would be false and misleading and misbrand the product."

Bayer wants the Supreme Court to find that the EPA label approval under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act preempts the "failure to warn" claims brought under state law.

As of late October, Bayer had reached settlements in about 98,000 cases accusing Roundup out of about 125,000 cases overall.

Bayer plans to replace glyphosate in weed killers for the U.S. residential market for non-professional gardeners with other active ingredients. It will continue to sell the herbicide to farmers.

According to Ag Daily, glyphosate-based herbicides, like Roundup, are one of the most thoroughly studied products of their kind, which is one reason so many growers and others continue to rely on these products to help them safely, successfully, and sustainably control weeds. Nearly all scientific bodies and associated research have affirmed the safety of glyphosate. The fact that the three earlier glyphosate cases Bayer was involved in relied more on emotional testimony, rather than scientific findings, frustrated many in the agricultural sector.