The Supreme Court blocked thousands of state lawsuits against leading pesticide maker Monsanto over the ingredients in the popular weed killer Roundup, in a decision Thursday that potentially sends the tussle to Congress.
The 7-2 opinion held federal law governing pesticide labels overrides state law claims about a label failing to warn about the alleged cancer dangers of the pesticide.
In the majority opinion, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh wrote that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, first passed in 1947, gives the Environmental Protection Agency full control over the content of pesticide labels.
Because the EPA approved a Roundup label that did not include a cancer warning, Kavanaugh wrote, Monsanto could not be sued for failing to include a cancer warning.
“In sum, federal law requires Monsanto to sell Roundup with the label that EPA approved at the initial registration and that EPA has subsequently re-approved on multiple occasions — that is, the label without a cancer warning,” Kavanaugh wrote.
