Should the world's most widely used weedkiller have a warning label for possibly causing cancer?

Thousands of customers are suing Bayer for its
weedkiller, Roundup, allegedly causing cancer.

Bayer is battling thousands of lawsuits from customers alleging the world’s most widely used weedkiller, Roundup, is causing cancer, report Patrick Thomas and Lydia Wheeler for The Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. Supreme Court must decide whether Bayer’s failure to provide a warning label on their product is illegal.

The federal government and Environmental Protection Agency determined Roundup is safe for use, and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) “prohibits states from imposing different or additional warnings from those required under the federal law,” the reporters explain.

The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, as “probably carcinogenic to humans” in 2015, though the EPA and federal government claim it isn’t.

The plaintiffs argue that Bayer should take extra steps to warn consumers of the risks the herbicide might pose, the reporters add.

While states can pull products from the market, Justice Neil Gorsuch questioned why they can’t hold companies liable for failure to warn customers, the Journal reports.

Bayer continues to argue that federal law is created to provide uniformity in the labeling of herbicides. The reporters add that Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked, “If the label is illegal in one state and legal in another state, that’s uniformity?”

Many farmers share positive experiences about using Roundup, despite possible links to cancer

Many U.S. farmers still favor glyphosate as an effective
and affordable herbicide. (Photo by Gabriel, Unsplash)

Many American farmers have favorable opinions on Roundup, a herbicide that remains a global favorite despite some studies linking its active ingredient, glyphosate, to human cancer. Many U.S. farmers say they still plan to use glyphosate, even if its current maker, Bayer, stops producing it. They shared their views on Roundup and weed-mitigation experiences with Lena Nargi of Offrange, formally known as Ambrook Research. 

Brent Searle, an organic raspberry, tomato, garlic, and winter squash farmer in eastern Idaho, “expressed a strain of ‘meh.’ He uses OMRI-approved herbicides on his crops but glyphosate on his three acres of driveway,” Nargi writes. Organic chemicals, he said, ‘hit you with a six-times cost’ that is ‘astronomical’ for small-scale growers, ‘and honestly, they don’t work as well.’”

Rick Machado, who breeds seeds for experimental crops in California, despised Roundup and its original maker, Monsanto, but ended up using glyphosate when “he got hit with bindweed,” Nargi writes. He told her, “I used it [Roundup], I kicked myself, but there was nothing I could do."

Jeff Stoltzfus believes glyphosate is the key to his successful no-till farming practice. Nargi adds, “The conservation plan for his 45 acres connected to the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which is plagued by sediment issues, requires that he use no-till practices." He told Nargi, “There’s no herbicide I’d rather use.”

Jimmy Tosh agrees with Stoltzfus. “On his 17,000-row crop and hog acres in Henry, Tennessee, the use of glyphosate is 100% a given,” Nargi writes. “It’s helped him control Johnson grass. . . . He believes claims that Roundup causes health issues are ‘ridiculous,’ he said. ‘Most studies show it to be a safe and effective chemical.’”

Mark Nussbaum will continue to use glyphosate “on his 800 acres of hardwood trees,” Nargi writes. “And he said he’ll continue to do so until ‘there becomes scientifically based, peer-reviewed evidence that glyphosate is harmful.’”

Many farmers agreed that while Bayer may stop making Roundup, they will purchase glyphosate from another producer. Nargi explains, “Since its patent expired in 2000 — and with it, Monsanto’s exclusive right to use it in products sold here — off-brand formulations for agricultural use, with names like Buccaneer and Killzall, have been widely available at the local farm supply."

Bayer threatens to end Roundup production, but American farmers depend on it. They may have to get it from China.

A farmer spreads pesticide on a field.
(Adobe Stock photo)

Despite its long run as many farmers' first choice for an effective weedkiller, Roundup's time on the market may be almost over. "Pharmaceutical and agriculture conglomerate Bayer said it could stop producing the world’s most popular weedkiller, unless it gets court protection against lawsuits blaming the herbicide for causing cancer," reports Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal.

Roundup was patented by agriculture and science research giant Monsanto in 1971, and the company began marketing the glyphosate-based herbicide in 1974. Over time, Roundup made billions of dollars in sales for Monsanto and later for Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018. Thomas writes, "Bayer currently produces about 40% of the world’s glyphosate, which farmers spray across fields to tame crop-threatening weeds."

Over the past 10 years, Roundup has had strong U.S. sales; however, Bayer is now drowning in "waves of litigation," Thomas explains. The suits caused Bayer's stock price to plunge and cost the company roughly "$10 billion in payouts to plaintiffs. In early March, Bayer told farmers, suppliers and retailers that it may stop selling Roundup, which would leave U.S. farmers reliant on imported glyphosate from China."

While some Americans may question the use of glyphosates, American farmers depend on it. "American farmers apply almost 300 million pounds of glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, to their fields each year," Thomas reports. Stu Swanson, who is president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, told Thomas, “Roundup [glyphosate] helps us produce in an economic way and for products we raise to be cheaper.”

Given production costs and lawsuits, producing Roundup is no longer profitable for Bayer. Some state legislatures are "discussing Bayer-supported bills that would protect pesticide companies from claims that they failed to warn that their product allegedly causes cancer if their product labels have been approved by the EPA without such designation," Thomas explains. "Plaintiffs’ attorneys have vowed legal challenges to such laws, if passed."

If Bayer stops producing Roundup, it's unlikely that another company would be willing to replace it and accept the product's ongoing and future liability.

Barrage of complaints about drift of dicamba herbicide overwhelm state agencies that probe pesticide damage

State agencies responsible for investigating pesticide-misuse reports have been overwhelmed by complaints about the herbicide dicamba for the past three years, and many are asking the Environmental Protection Agency for help, Dan Charles reports for NPR.

Dicamba is notorious for drifting into nearby fields, damaging crops that aren't genetically engineered to be resistant to it. It was once sprayed only before crops sprouted, but in 2016 EPA allowed farmers to spray it on genetically modified soybean plants. Then came a large increase in complaints from farmers who say their non-GMO crops were damaged, Charles reports.

State agencies have to investigate each complaint of pesticide drift and decide whether it happened because someone broke the law, "but many have struggled to keep up," Charles reports. "In Illinois, the number of complaints soared from about 120 in the pre-dicamba era to more than 700 in 2019. In Indiana, it went from about 60 to 200. Meanwhile, because they're fully occupied with dicamba complaints, inspectors don't have time for all their other work, such as routine inspections of pesticide use at schools, golf courses or businesses."

The complaints aren't likely going away any time soon. Several states have banned or restricted dicamba use over the past few years, but in November of 2018 EPA extended its approval through 2020. "The agency decided the problems could be addressed with a few new restrictions on how and where dicamba can be sprayed, along with more training for people who use it," Charles reports. 

However, dicamba complaints have continued to increase, and where they have decreased, there is evidence that most people aren't filing complaints because they don't think it will do any good, Charles reports.

The states' heavy workload has resulted in high staff turnover. In the past year and a half, all but one of Missouri's eight pesticide inspectors left their jobs, Charles reports. And, frustratingly, EPA may not be paying much attention to the state reports anyway. The EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs stopped asking for routine updates on state regulators' injury reports last year.

The herbicide is under increased scrutiny right now as dicamba makers Bayer (which bought the originator Monsanto) and BASF face allegations in a lawsuit that they deliberately sold a product known to hurt non-resistant crops in order to increase their sales. The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting has an in-depth package on the trial.