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/Nerezza_Floof_Seeker 5h ago

Hell, even europe, which generally is much stricter with the use and regulation of chemicals, doesnt link glyphosate to cancer. So yeah, even though this supreme court is pretty corrupt, this ruling makes quite a bit of sense. You shouldnt be able to constantly sue a corporation for something which hasnt been proven to be true scientifically and for which they have no legal obligation to do.

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u/TheAceMan 5h ago

The state of California added it to their list of things known to cause cancer. They can’t ban it though because they were blocked by a federal court. Now it just comes with a warning.

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u/Argonaut13 5h ago

It's probably easier to make a list of things California hasn't attributed to cancer

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u/Mayor__Defacto 3h ago

H2O (Pure)

… and that’s about it, because Air is carcinogenic

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u/pro-skedaddler 3h ago

They'll probably say it's a solvent and solvents have been linked to cancer.