“This is a bigger threat to innovation in general, when we think about agriculture,” said Jess Christiansen, the head of communications for Bayer’s crop science unit.
Bayer has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether federal law preempts thousands of state-level lawsuits alleging that one of the company’s most popular weedkillers could cause cancer.
According to The Associated Press, Bayer, an agrochemical manufacturer, is simultaneously lobbying legislators in several states to pass laws shielding pesticide companies from failing to warn consumers that a product causes cancer, provided that a product’s labeling otherwise complies with federal standards.
Last Friday, attorneys for Bayer asked the Supreme Court to take a case involving a Missouri man who was awarded $1.25 million after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The plaintiff in that case had argued that his condition was either caused or accelerated by use of weedkiller Roundup in a small community garden. The current, federally-approved label has contains no reference to or warning of cancer.
Bayer, for its part, says that elements of federal code should make it legally impossible for individual states to adopt unique labeling requirements.
If its argument is accepted, Bayer could be shielded from liability in similar pesticide and cancer cases.
In a Friday filing, attorneys for Bayer said that the Supreme Court should intervene because three lower courts—the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the 9th and 11th Circuit Courts of Appeals—have issued conflicting rulings.
Jim Onder, a lawyer representing the Missouri plaintiff, said that Bayer’s filing is “really grasping at straws.”
“The reality is they don’t want to put the warning on it because they’re afraid [that if people] realize it’s unsafe, it will reduce sales,” Onder said.
Onder, adds The Associated Press, says that his firm is representing more than 20,000 clients in a class-action lawsuit against Bayer.
In total, Bayer is facing an estimated 181,000 Roundup-related lawsuits nationwide.
Bayer officials have since suggested that the increased regulation of pesticides could have significant and adverse consequences.
“This is a bigger threat to innovation in general, when we think about agriculture,” said Jess Christiansen, the head of communications for Bayer’s crop science unit.
“If glyphosate falls to the litigation industry, what could be next?” Christiansen told The Associated Press.
Some of the Missouri legislators supporting liability protections say that hard-hitting lawsuits could force Bayer to pull Roundup from the domestic market—potentially leaving farmers to rely on alternative pesticides sourced from China.
“This product, ultimately, is a tool we need,” said Missouri state Rep. Dane Diehl.
Sources
Bayer renews bid for US Supreme Court to curb glyphosate cases
Weedkiller maker asks US Supreme Court to block lawsuits claiming it failed to warn about cancer
Weedkiller manufacturer seeks lawmakers’ help to squelch claims it failed to warn about cancer
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