Supreme Court rejects Bayer’s appeal against Roundup ruling

The Supreme Court declined on Tuesday to hear an appeal by Bayer, allowing lawsuits claiming glyphosate, the main active ingredient in the weed killer Roundup, causes cancer to move forward. Bayer, the maker of Roundup, had appealed the case of Edwin Hardeman who said he developed cancer due to his use of Roundup on his property for decades. The court’s action upholds the ruling of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in favor of Hardeman, upholding a  $25 million judgment. The declined appeal opens the opportunity for thousands of similar cases to continue.

Last summer, the company announced it would remove glyphosate from its residential line of Roundup by 2023 in the face of ​​$4.5 billion dollars in litigation costs. Previously, Bayer settled for about $10 billion dollars with 95,000 plaintiffs who alleged that the glyphosate in Bayer’s Roundup, the most widely used weed killer in the country, causes cancer.

In response to the court’s action PIRG’s Zero Out Toxics advocate, Emily Rogers, said “Companies must be held accountable for their toxic products and the court’s decision is an important win for the health of all Americans, taking us one step closer to zeroing out toxics.” Read more in PIRG’s press statement.