All posts tagged: Bayer CropScience Ltd

Supreme Court limits Roundup cancer suits against Bayer’s Monsanto

Supreme Court limits Roundup cancer suits against Bayer’s Monsanto

Published by Sam Flores

The Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision on Thursday said Bayer cannot be sued over state-level claims that the company failed to warn of cancer risks from its weedkiller Roundup and its chemical glyphosate. The decision is a major win for Bayer and the Trump administration, which argued that failure-to-warn claims were preempted by a federal law that governs pesticides. It’s also a major blow to the Make America Healthy Again movement, which helped return Trump to the White House in the 2024 election but has felt betrayed by the administration’s embrace of glyphosate — the most commonly used weedkiller in agriculture that has long been linked to cancer claims. Monsanto Co’s Roundup is shown for sale in Encinitas, California. Mike Blake | Reuters Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the majority, arguing that because the Environmental Protection Agency deems glyphosate safe when used properly and has not required a cancer warning label, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act preempts state-level failure to warn claims. “With respect to pesticide labels, FIFRA demands ‘[u]niformity’ and expressly …

House strips MAHA-hated pesticide provisions from farm bill

House strips MAHA-hated pesticide provisions from farm bill

Published by Sam Flores

The House of Representatives on Thursday stripped a set of controversial provisions aimed at protecting pesticide manufacturers from the farm bill, following a Make America Healthy Again uprising that could have sunk the broader package. The amendment led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla, to strip the language was passed by a vote of 280-142, after a bipartisan groundswell of opposition from lawmakers and MAHA advocates who said the provisions amounted to a “liability shield” to protect Bayer from allegations that its Roundup herbicide and its chemical glyphosate cause cancer. The broader farm bill cleared the House Thursday morning by a vote of 224-200. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, who was helping lead the push to strip the pesticide language for Democrats, said the language represented a “handout to big agriculture, to big chemical.” “It preempts states’ rights to regulate pesticide usage or labeling [and] provides a liability shield for pesticide manufacturers,” Pingree said on the House floor. “Put simply, this language puts chemical company profits over the health of Americans.” A sign protesting Chairman Glenn …

MAHA vs. Trump over Supreme Court glyphosate case, farm bill

MAHA vs. Trump over Supreme Court glyphosate case, farm bill

Published by Sam Flores

U.S. Vice President JD Vance and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gesture onstage during the inaugural Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) summit in Washington, D.C., U.S., Nov. 12, 2025. Nathan Howard | Reuters A Supreme Court case and a bill moving through Congress this week are set to test the bonds of Republicans and the Make America Healthy Again movement, following a near rupture in February over the weed killer glyphosate.  The court will hear a case Monday to decide whether federal law preempts state-level lawsuits alleging glyphosate, the chemical in Bayer‘s herbicide Roundup, causes cancer. And the U.S. House is expected to take up the farm bill this week, a massive agricultural policy measure that includes new protections for the chemical.  The MAHA movement, a coalition of activists who push for healthy food and eschew chemicals, helped deliver President Donald Trump back to the White House after their preferred presidential candidate, now-Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., dropped out of the election and endorsed the …

Trump angering MAHA with glyphosate order gives Democrats an opening

Trump angering MAHA with glyphosate order gives Democrats an opening

Published by Sam Flores

An attendee holds a Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Moms sign at the end of a press conference announcing of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) intent to phase out the use of petroleum-based synthetic dyes in the nation’s food supply, at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 22, 2025. Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters President Donald Trump is careening toward the Make America Healthy Again iceberg after issuing an executive order to boost the domestic production of a key herbicide called glyphosate. Democrats see an opportunity to steer the health-conscious movement back to their side.  Trump strode into a second term in the White House after former Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped his independent bid for president and endorsed him. Kennedy’s MAHA movement, which disavows chemicals in food and pushes natural alternatives, played a key part in Trump’s victory — and Trump rewarded Kennedy by making him Health and Human Services secretary. But Trump’s recent moves that benefit the very chemicals MAHA hates are creating fissures in …

Kennedy defends Trump glyphosate order; MAHA erupts

Kennedy defends Trump glyphosate order; MAHA erupts

Published by Sam Flores

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces new nutrition policies during a press conference in Washington, Jan. 8, 2026. Jonathan Ernst | Reuters Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended President Donald Trump’s executive order spurring the domestic production of the weed killer glyphosate, as his Make America Healthy Again movement reels from the president’s embrace of the chemical they despise. Trump on Wednesday night signed an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act to compel the domestic production of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides. Glyphosate is the chemical in Bayer-Monsanto’s Roundup and is the most commonly used herbicide for a slew of U.S. crops. Trump, in the order, said shortages of both phosphorus and glyphosate would pose a risk to national security. Kennedy backed the president in a statement to CNBC Thursday morning. “Donald Trump’s Executive Order puts America first where it matters most — our defense readiness and our food supply,” he said. “We must safeguard America’s national security first, because all of our priorities depend …

Trump issues glyphosate order; MAHA opposes Roundup chemical

Trump issues glyphosate order; MAHA opposes Roundup chemical

Published by Sam Flores

US President Donald Trump speaks during a Black History Month event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on Feb. 18, 2026. Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act to promote the domestic production of phosphorus and the weedkiller glyphosate, which he said is critical to both defense and food security. Glyphosate is often targeted by supporters of the Make America Healthy Again movement as a harmful chemical. Trump aligned with the MAHA movement after Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped out of the 2024 election. “I find that ensuring robust domestic elemental phosphorus mining and United States-based production of glyphosate-based herbicides is central to American economic and national security,” Trump said in the order. “Without immediate Federal action, the United States remains inadequately equipped and vulnerable.” Read more CNBC politics coverage Glyphosate has long been used in U.S. agriculture and has been the subject of controversy over alleged links to cancer. …