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From staff reports
Earlier this month, U.S. Solicitor General, Elizabeth Prelogar yielded a brief recommending that the Supreme Court reject a petition by Bayer Ag that asks the court to review a verdict in the Roundup cancer lawsuit. Major U.S. ag groups are pushing back. Fifty -four groups, including the American Soybean Association, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Cotton Council, National Corn Growers Association, National Association of Wheat Growers and American Sugarbeet Growers Association signed onto the letter. “We are concerned this monumental change in the federal government’s policy will not just threaten science-based regulation, but it risks undercutting food production and important environmental practices at a time when we cannot afford to hinder either,” the agricultural groups stated. have sent a letter to President Joe Biden stating that this brief is counter to “long-standing policy regarding the regulation and labeling of pesticide production relied upon by farmers and other users.” The agricultural groups “strongly urge” Biden to withdraw the brief, arguing that the administration’s new policy, laid out in the Solicitor General’s brief, “could ultimately hinder the ability of U.S. farmers to meet growing global food needs intensified by the invasion of Ukraine.” The ag letter points out that this action undermines a lot of years of science-based policy.
The case stems back to Bayer asking that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals review a decision regarding a monetary award to a California man to say that the use of Roundup caused his cancer. Bayer says that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act preempts a California law that allowed the man to sue. Bayer says that Federal law supersedes state law for labeling requirements.