Glyphosate

Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide, first registered in the U.S. in 1974, that kills most plants by blocking an enzyme they need to grow. It is the active ingredient in Roundup and is among the most widely used weed killers in the world, on farms and in yards and parks.

Scientific bodies disagree about whether it causes cancer. In March 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans" (Group 2A), citing limited evidence in humans for non-Hodgkin lymphoma and sufficient evidence in animals. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reached a different conclusion in its 2017 assessment, finding glyphosate not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.

That split drove a huge wave of litigation against Monsanto, now owned by Bayer, by people who used Roundup and developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Juries returned several large verdicts, and in June 2020 Bayer announced agreements to resolve a large share of the claims. The litigation changed sharply in 2026. On June 25, 2026, in Monsanto Co. v. Durnell, the U.S. Supreme Court held that federal pesticide law expressly preempts a state-law failure-to-warn claim that would require a cancer warning on Roundup's label, because the EPA-approved label has no such warning. That ruling addressed failure-to-warn claims specifically; its effect on other legal theories and pending cases is still being worked out.

If you used Roundup regularly and were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, keep records of how and how long you used it. Our Roundup cancer lawsuit page tracks the current status, and the Roundup concentrate settlement page covers a separate consumer class settlement.