Today, the United States Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in Monsanto v. Durnell that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act preempts state labeling requirements that are in addition to or different from federal labeling requirements. This decision puts to rest many years of uncertainty on the future of pesticide labeling and availability for farmers.
“This is great news for all farmers in the country,” said Jed Bower, Ohio farmer and National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) president. “Today’s decision reaffirms that FIFRA is the law of the land and states cannot add undue and unproven requirements not backed by science.”
The EPA has repeatedly confirmed that glyphosate does not cause cancer, as has every major regulatory body around the world. However, a long series of court cases alleging a failure to warn users of the risks of cancer, despite EPA’s repeated conclusion that it does not, have put at odds FIFRA labeling requirements and the ability of states to add additional labels that conflict with federal findings and labels.
Without today’s decision, pesticide manufacturers could have been forced to manage state-based labels that contradict federal findings for all products in all 50 states, which would likely have led to increased costs, reduced product availability for farmers and diminished innovation. NCGA highlighted these concerns in an amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court earlier this year.
