There is uncertainty whether SCOTUS will hear the appeal by Bayer AG holding company of Monsanto to set aside lower court decisions on glyphosate claims. Plaintiffs were awarded damages in jury trials alleging a cause-and- effect relationship between non-Hodgkin lymphoma and contact with glyphosate-based herbicides marketed under the RoundUp™ brand. Bayer faces extensive payouts following the three adverse verdicts in three cases with the assumption of responsibility and damages upheld by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The basis of the Bayer appeal is that the Monsanto-Bayer product was not responsible for non-Hodgkin lymphoma based on the fact that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had approved the product and would not allow a California label warning concerning the potential for cancer, which has yet to be scientifically established.

Two Plaintiffs alleged that they acquired cancer from exposure to glyphosate as applied in their gardens and the third was a groundsman in a sports complex. It is a matter of record that the EPA was unable to establish any association between the compound and lymphoma among agricultural workers in California following a retrospective study.