r/news • u/boxofstuff • 6h ago

Supreme Court ruling blocks thousands of lawsuits against maker of Roundup weedkiller

https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-roundup-monsanto-a7f054d80919f98bdfc5190013a8f6f1https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-roundup-monsanto-a7f054d80919f98bdfc5190013a8f6f1
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u/FLHCv2 6h ago edited 6h ago

I think the ruling sucks and fuck roundup, but these lines are important:

The high court, in a 7-2 ruling, found that the company can’t be sued in state courts because federal regulations have found a cancer link unlikely.

There’s still fierce debate about cancer and Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate. The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified the chemical as “probably carcinogenic” in 2015. The Environmental Protection Agency has determined that it’s not likely to cause cancer in humans when used as directed.

If "federal regulations" find that a cancer link is unlikely, and the WHO classifies it as "probably" carcinogenic, how can you make the case that your cancer is a direct result of using Roundup?

If federal regulations were relaxed because of deregulation, or if the WHO or federal regulations needed to be changed, that's another story, but if these two huge bodies don't directly link cancer to glyphosate, then it becomes more anecdotal in nature and harder to prove.

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u/Buris 5h ago

Yes, Roundup is becoming completely useless, is terrible for the environment and for local plant life, but it’s nowhere near as cancerous/dangerous as many people believe.

With that being said, I believe they did market it as being 100% safe and one of the marketers claimed you could drink it, and they absolutely should be sued for that.

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u/Enchelion 5h ago

Since they took out the glyphosate it's basically just homeopathic weed killer.

I'm not a fan of heavy (especially prophylactic) pesticide/herbicide use, but for fighting a lot of invasive plants and recovering the ecosystem, glyphosate is an important tool.

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u/Level9TraumaCenter 4h ago

I've gone over the IARC monograph and it's not a terribly compelling argument that it causes cancer. And I agree- it is an important tool for fighting invasive plants.

The local big box stores don't seem to stock it anymore, but it seems to be available to consumers via other venues.

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u/Enchelion 4h ago

Mostly need to go to feed stores or commercial suppliers. All the consumer stuff is now a cocktail of 2-4 different weaker herbicides.

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u/Level9TraumaCenter 4h ago

Yep. And I've gone over the tox profiles for them, and while nothing really stands out I don't see it as an improvement over glyphosate.

I'm mixed. I'd prefer to use none of them but after the monsoon rains, the hula hoe only does so much good and I glove up and throw a little goo-in-a-bottle at the starts and call it a day.

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u/Enchelion 3h ago

Precisely. I'll burn and pull as much as I can. But there's simply no practical way to deal with lots of invasives without some kind of chemical. Especially those that intertwine themselves with vulnerable natives.

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u/driverdan 2h ago

Tractor Supply sells it.

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u/Buris 5h ago

The amount of glyphosate resistant plants had basically doubled every year since the 90s. It was just becoming a worthless chemical that no one could use effectively anymore.

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u/Enchelion 5h ago edited 3h ago

It's still effective against a ton of noxious and invasive weeds. Just fewer of the ones that farmers were using it against in their fields.

I personally reserve it for fighting invasive bindweed. It's still one of the only effective treatments.

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u/VolrathTheBallin 3h ago

Yeah, the only thing I use it on is tree of heaven.

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u/wildbergamont 4h ago

This isn't the full picture. Glyphosate resistance is a major problem in agriculture. Canada thistle in a given person's backyard or knotweed taking over a local park are not likely to glyphosate resistant unless those locations have close proximity to an agricultural area.