Trump Administration Backs Bayer as Supreme Court Weighs Cancer Lawsuits Over Roundup Use in National Forests

The Trump administration is doubling down on the controversial weed killer Roundup, even as thousands of cancer patients fight to hold Bayer, which owns Monsanto, accountable in court. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments over whether federal pesticide regulations should block state lawsuits claiming glyphosate, Roundup’s active ingredient, causes cancer. The stakes could not be higher: the court’s decision will determine if victims can continue seeking justice.

At the heart of the controversy is glyphosate, a chemical long suspected of causing cancer. In 2015, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer declared glyphosate “probably carcinogenic,” sparking waves of lawsuits. One plaintiff, John Durnell from Missouri, alleges two decades of exposure led to his blood cancer. A jury awarded him $1.25 million, finding Bayer failed to warn users of the risks. Yet the Trump administration, siding with Bayer, insists Roundup is safe.

Meanwhile, a groundbreaking investigation by Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting exposes a disturbing expansion of Roundup use in U.S. forests, driven by the U.S. Forest Service. Reporter Nate Halverson reveals that glyphosate use in California forests has quadrupled over 20 years, with the fastest growth in forestry rather than agriculture. Southern timber-producing states, where data is scarce, are estimated to be the largest consumers, spraying millions of acres post-logging to accelerate tree regrowth — essentially treating forests like industrial cornfields.

This isn’t just careless environmental management. It’s a corporate-backed, government-enabled cycle prioritizing profit over public health and ecological integrity. Monsanto’s decades-long PR campaign to downplay glyphosate’s dangers included secretly influencing scientific studies to favor its safety claims. Now, under Trump, the government’s regulatory apparatus appears complicit in pushing this toxic agenda.

The Supreme Court case is a critical battleground for accountability. Will victims be silenced by federal preemption, or will states retain the power to protect their citizens from corporate poison? And will the Forest Service’s reckless spraying be reined in before it causes irreversible harm?

This story exposes the Trump administration’s pattern of siding with corporate interests over the health and rights of Americans. We are witnessing an aggressive assault on democratic oversight and environmental safety — one that demands urgent public scrutiny and resistance.