Published July 23, 2026
On June 25, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in Monsanto Co. v. Durnell that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts state-law failure-to-warn claims that would require pesticide makers to add a cancer warning the EPA hasn't approved. The case reversed a $1.25 million jury verdict out of Missouri, where plaintiff John Durnell alleged that roughly 20 years of Roundup use caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Missouri's trial and appellate courts had both rejected Monsanto's preemption defense before the Supreme Court took up the case and reversed.
Writing for the majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh reasoned that because the EPA has specifically evaluated glyphosate, Roundup's active ingredient, and determined the science doesn't support requiring a cancer warning on the label, a state jury verdict effectively imposing that same warning conflicts with FIFRA's express preemption clause barring states from adding labeling requirements different from the federally approved one. Legal commentary has compared the reasoning to the Court's earlier medical-device preemption ruling in Riegel v. Medtronic, extending similar logic to EPA-regulated pesticide labeling.
The ruling doesn't eliminate all pending Roundup litigation — claims built on design-defect or other theories may still proceed — but it undercuts the failure-to-warn argument that has powered most of the large plaintiff verdicts in Roundup cases to date. Legal analysts have described the decision as substantially strengthening preemption defenses in pending state-court litigation nationwide, potentially eliminating a significant share of the claims still working through the courts.
The practical effect on any individual case depends heavily on which legal theories it's built on and where it's pending, so this is not a reason to assume a claim is dead — or that it's unaffected. Anyone currently pursuing a Roundup claim, or considering filing one, should get their situation reviewed in light of this ruling. See Atumio's Roundup case page for a free review, or start your case review directly.