US Supreme Court scales back Roundup cancer lawsuits in victory for company

The United States Supreme Court has sided with the maker of Roundup weedkiller in a ruling expected to block thousands of lawsuits alleging it failed to warn people the product could cause cancer. The ruling on Thursday was tied to a case that came before the justices after a tidal wave of litigation that included some multibillion-dollar verdicts against the global agrochemical manufacturer Bayer, a Germany-based company that acquired Roundup when it bought its original producer Monsanto in 2018. Recommended Stories list of 4 items end of list The decision is a victory for US President Donald Trump’s administration, but one that could be tricky politically since allies in the “ Make America Healthy Again ” movement want to rein in pesticide use. The high court, in a 7-2 ruling, found that the company cannot face failure-to-warn lawsuits in state courts because federal regulations have found a cancer link unlikely and do not require a warning label. The justices overturned a jury verdict in Missouri awarding $1.25m to a man named John Durnell who said he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma after years of exposure to glyphosate in Roundup. The Supreme Court agreed with Bayer that a US law that governs pesticides precludes failure-to-warn claims that are brought under state law from moving forward in court. Bayer shares jumped nearly 18 percent following the ruling. Trump’s administration had backed Bayer in the case. …