News

Bayer pushing Supreme Court on Roundup case

Bayer has filed its final brief to the Supreme Court in an effort to overturn the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision on a Roundup case.

The Supreme Court is now deciding if it will review the Monsanto Company vs. Edwin Hardeman case over the claim Roundup caused his cancer.

Bayer, who purchased Monsanto in 2018, says it believes there are strong legal arguments to support a Supreme Court review of the case. It says the EPA has ‘consistently found’ glyphosate-based herbicides are safe and don’t cause cancer.

But U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who supervises Supreme Court case litigation, is advising the high court not to take cases regarding pesticide labels. Fifty-four ag groups, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Corn Growers Association and American Soybean Association, are calling for the withdrawal of Prelogar’s amicus brief against taking such cases.

Bayer filed its initial petition to the Supreme Court last August.

The court of appeals upheld a $25 million verdict to Hardeman last May. Hardeman is one of several like cases against Roundup.