Monsanto Must Pay $611 Million in Damages. It’s Not Enough.

By John Klar, Special to The Kennedy Beacon

Early this week, the Missouri Court of Appeals for the state’s Western District affirmed three multi-million dollar jury awards against Monsanto, now owned by Bayer.

As with a prior Missouri ruling in February, the jury agreed that Monsanto failed to warn users about the risks of its product, Roundup, a weed killer that contains glyphosate and can cause non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

In both cases, Bayer’s Monsanto sought to dismiss the juries’ findings of fault by relying on federal preemption of the plaintiffs’ claims under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Bayer argued that the EPA has approved glyphosate for use in its products, and that so long as it complies with EPA labeling requirements, it is immune from suit even where, as here, juries have weighed the expert testimony and concluded that the company willfully failed to warn consumers of the risks of its products.

Both of Missouri’s Courts of Appeals rejected this argument, concluding that

“The EPA's historical approval of glyphosate labels without a cancer warning and its past conclusions regarding glyphosate's carcinogenicity do not compel the conclusion that the EPA would inevitably reject a future label with a cancer warning….

“Monsanto has not met its demanding burden of showing an irreconcilable conflict between state and federal law in this case.” (DURNELL v. MONSANTO COMPANY, 707 S.W.3d 828 (Mo. App. E.D. 2025))

The evidence against Monsanto’s use of glyphosate, a chemical compound in roundup and other weed killers, is overwhelming. Jury after jury has awarded not only compensatory but punitive damages against the company, totaling billions of dollars.

In Missouri’s Western District, the Court of Appeals recounted the jury’s findings after reviewing reams of expert testimony in deliberations that lasted fewer than eight hours.

The jury assessed damages in the millions to four plaintiffs as follows:

“(1) with respect to Anderson, $38 million in compensatory damages and $500 million in punitive damages; (2) with respect to Draeger, $5.6 million in compensatory damages and $500 million in punitive damages; (3) with respect to Mrs. Draeger, $100,000 in compensatory damages; and (4) with respect to Gunther, $17.5 million in compensatory damages and $500 million in punitive damages.” (Daniel Anderson et al v. Monsanto, WD87059, (Mo. App. W.D. 2025))

To chart an end-run around its repeated failures to persuade courts to grant it immunity under federal preemption law, Bayer has undertaken a state-by-state campaign to pass local laws that will do the same thing. As I recently explained in the Baltimore Sun:

“To cover its litigation bets, Bayer spearheaded a national back-door effort to insulate itself from future liability by lobbying for state laws that will immunize pesticide companies from legal accountability for injuries as long as their product labels comply with EPA mandates. State lawmakers in Georgia and North Dakota have passed bills that would protect pesticide manufacturers from the same kind of legal liability that held Bayer responsible for Barnes’ cancer.”

Bayer has introduced similar immunity bills in Florida, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Wyoming. Such efforts demonstrate the troubling influence huge chemical manufacturers have over state and often federal legislators.

Making America healthy again means ensuring the truth about glyphosate and agricultural chemicals is established by clear scientific study, and that appropriate regulations protect Americans’ health above corporate profits.

The EPA must do its job and transparently explain its positions on glyphosate. HHS Secretary Kennedy is part of the alliance to ensure future generations are protected – and that juries remain free to weigh the evidence Bayer and other companies seek to hide.

John Klar is an attorney and Vermont farmer. He’s the author of Small Farm Republic: Why Conservatives Must Embrace Local Agriculture, Reject Climate Alarmism, and Lead an Environmental Revival.

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