SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The Supreme Court handed a major victory to the chemical giant Bayer today in a case over its popular weed killer Roundup. The justices made it harder for people to sue over claims the company failed to warn them about blood cancer risks. It could have implications for thousands of lawsuits that go far beyond one product. NPR's Carrie Johnson has been following the case and is here now to talk about it. Hi, Carrie.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: This is a case that has been closely watched by many American businesses. Why was there so much interest?
JOHNSON: Well, the weed killer Roundup is used across hundreds of millions of acres of farmland by some counts. It's one of the most popular products in the world, but there's a problem. Thousands of people say the key ingredient glyphosate gave them non-Hodgkins (ph) lymphoma. One of them is John Durnell. He's a Missouri man who sprayed parks in his neighborhood only to contract cancer. He sued in state court and argued the company failed to warn him about those risks on the product label. The company argued that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the label, and under longstanding federal law, that meant people could not sue over it in state court. Today, the Supreme Court voted 7 to 2 to side with the company.
DETROW: There has been a lot of money on the line here. How is Bayer responding?
JOHNSON: Bayer sent a written statement. It says this ruling is good for American farmers and good for food safety. Bayer says the decision helps to bring what it calls significant containment to all this litigation. The company had already negotiated a $7 billion settlement with some plaintiffs. Right now, it sounds as if it's going to stick to that settlement, which still requires approval from a judge. But the court decision today could block many future lawsuits. Cory Andrews is general counsel of the Washington Legal Foundation, a free markets group that supported Bayer in the case.
CORY ANDREWS: Today is a very significant win for Bayer. The decision directly undercuts the primary legal theory that drove the vast majority of the 60,000-plus Roundup cases and the $1.25 million verdict in this case.
JOHNSON: He says the easiest and most potent way for plaintiffs to sue the company over Roundup is now gone.
DETROW: And how are environmental groups responding?
JOHNSON: They say this decision is going to close the courthouse doors to many people who have been sickened by pesticides and by chemical companies. Ken Cook is president of the Environmental Working Group.
KEN COOK: It was really never just about Bayer or about one chemical, important as it is. It's about whether our states retain the authority to provide stronger protections for the residents when the federal regulations fall short, and whether ordinary Americans can hold powerful corporations accountable.
JOHNSON: Now, experts told me people might still be able to sue over things like manufacturing problems, but it was never easy for plaintiffs, and the Supreme Court just made it a lot harder.
DETROW: One other dynamic here. This case had some unusual political implications. Tell me about that.
JOHNSON: Yeah, very unusual. The Trump administration sided with Bayer here and argued for the company before the Supreme Court, but that alienated people in the Make America Healthy Again movement, which is a vocal part of Trump's political base. Some of them rallied outside the court on the day of the arguments. Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group told me the current Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., had once represented a plaintiff in one of these early Roundup cases. But President Trump's been pulling in the opposite direction. He even signed an executive order this year to spur more production of that key ingredient in the Roundup weed killer.
DETROW: That is NPR's Carrie Johnson. Thank you so much.
JOHNSON: Thanks for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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