The 2025 Glyphosate Report Card: Some Good, Some Bad
May 21, 2025 As the calendar gets ready to turn to June, schoolchildren across the country are anticipating what their final report cards will look like. In this spirit, let’s consider how the 2024-25 report card looks for glyphosate. Overall, it’s been a mix of positive and negative grades for one of agriculture’s most popular herbicides.
First, let’s look at some of the failing grades. For years now, glyphosate (and primary supplier Bayer) have been the subject of thousands of lawsuits from individuals claiming repeated use of the herbicide caused them health problems. This has resulted in billions of dollars in damage awards from juries. In fact, things have gotten some bad that Bayer has hinted that it would stop producing its Roundup brand glyphosate “in the near future.”
Grade this an F (for financial burden).
More recently, the Make America Heathy Again (MAHA) Commission is preparing to release a report that insiders say could blame “U.S. farmers [for] harming Americans through their production practices.” This likely would point the finger at crop protection products such as glyphosate. In anticipate of this report, several ag trade groups such as the American Soybean Association, National Association of Wheat Growers, and the National Corn Growers Association have released statements criticizing the MAHA report.
Grade this an I (for incomplete information).
But there are some passing grades as well. Over the past two months, two states – North Dakota and Georgia – have passed legislation affirming that federal warning labels on crop protection products such as glyphosate are “ample warning of health risks and supersede the need for additional state and/or local warning labels.” This will remove one of the key arguments used by plaintiffs in glyphosate damage lawsuits across the country. Other states such as Missouri, Iowa, and Tennessee are also considering similar legislative protections for crop protection products.
Grade this an A (for about time).
Finally, Bayer has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to officially weigh in on the question of federal vs. state/local warning labels. This potentially could open the door for a national precedent being set regarding current and future warning label issues.
Grade this a B (for better late than never).
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