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Supreme Court rules to uphold federal pesticide labels and FIFRA authority

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled federal pesticide law takes precedence over added state labeling requirements. 

Daren Coppeck with the Agricultural Retailers Association tells Brownfield the Thursday decision in the Monsanto v. Durnell case confirms that product labels are the law.

“The determination that was made by the court is that FIFRA, the law that underlies all these pesticide registrations, very clearly says that states cannot add to or substantially change what those labels say,” he says.

The court ruled 7-2 that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act overrides failure-to-warn lawsuits bringing “safety” claims.

Coppeck says the decision should put a stop to thousands of similar court cases on Roundup.

“Other arguments have been made by plaintiffs, such as design defect or negligence or exposure or maybe some other ideas, those were not addressed in this case,” he says. “I suspect that those cases will continue to make their way through the court system.”

The Center for Food Safety, which filed a brief in the case, says the court eliminated one way the public held pesticide corporations accountable for their products’ harms, and the fight is far from over.

In a statement, Bayer CEO Bill Anderson says the decision provides the regulatory clarity needed to develop agricultural tools that help ensure an affordable food supply. The company says it expects the ruling to lead to the dismissal of current warning-based claims and block future state failure-to-warn lawsuits.

Ohio farmer and National Corn Growers Association President Jed Bower says pesticide manufacturers could have had to manage state-based labels that contradict federal findings for all products in all 50 states without the decision.

The American Soybean Association says state-level requirements have led to a burdensome regulatory patchwork that conflicts with EPA-approved labels and create confusion, undermining confidence in the regulatory process.

National Association of Wheat Growers CEO Sam Kieffer says the ruling reaffirms that EPA’s label, based on a rigorous process of scientific review, is the law.