Facts of the Case
John Durnell used Monsanto's glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup for years and later developed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which he attributed to the product. He sued Monsanto in Missouri state court, and in 2023 a St. Louis jury awarded him $1.25 million on a strict-liability failure-to-warn claim premised on the absence of a cancer warning from Roundup's EPA-approved label. Monsanto argued the claim was preempted by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, but the trial court rejected that defense and the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, affirmed.
Questions
Does the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act preempt a label-based failure-to-warn claim where EPA has not required the warning?
Conclusions
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On June 25, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court held 7-2 in Monsanto Company v. Durnell that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act expressly preempts a state failure-to-warn claim demanding a warning the EPA did not require on the pesticide's approved label.
