Does Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller need a cancer warning?
The Excerpt
USA TODAY
4.1 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 29 April 2026
⏱️ 16 minutes
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Summary
Should companies be legally required to warn consumers that their product might cause cancer? If your company is selling tobacco, that answer has been yes since 1965. But what if your product is just for lawns and is regulated by the EPA? That’s precisely what the Supreme Court is being asked to decide. The man at the heart of a lawsuit against Monsanto says a warning or a change in marketing might have altered the course of his life. On Monday, the court heard the case of John Durnell, known as the “spray guy,” whose $1.25 million verdict against Monsanto, is being challenged. USA TODAY Supreme Court Correspondent Maureen Groppe joins The Excerpt for more on Monday's arguments.
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Transcript
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| 0:32.6 | Should companies be legally required to warn consumers that their product might cause cancer? |
| 0:41.4 | If your company is selling tobacco, that answer has been yes since 1965. |
| 0:45.7 | But what if your product is just for lawns and is regulated by the EPA? |
| 0:50.4 | That's precisely what the Supreme Court is being asked to decide. |
| 0:53.6 | The man at the heart of a lawsuit against Monsanto says a warning or a change in marketing might have altered the course of his life. |
| 1:06.9 | Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. |
| 1:10.6 | Today is Wednesday, April 29, 26. |
| 1:14.1 | On Monday, the court heard the case of John Dernel, known as the Spray Guy, |
| 1:19.4 | whose $1.25 million verdict against Monsanto is being challenged. |
| 1:24.6 | For more on Monday's arguments, I'm joined now by USA Today's Supreme Court |
| 1:28.4 | correspondent, Marine Grappie. It's good to have you back, Maureen. Well, thanks for having me back. |
| 1:33.8 | To start, tell me about the plaintiff in this case, John Dernel. Who is he? And what happened to him? |
| 1:40.0 | Yeah, you mentioned that he's called the spray guy. That's the name. His attorney gave him when he went to trial. He lives in a historic neighborhood in St. Louis, and he is a member of a neighborhood association, and for more than two decades, he was the guy who tried to keep up appearances in the neighborhood, taking care of weeds in parks and in |
| 2:02.5 | playgrounds, and he used this product Roundup to do that. He then later developed blood cancer, |
| 2:09.9 | non-Hodgkins lymphoma, which he attributes to the key ingredient glyphosate in that very popular |
| 2:16.7 | weed killer Roundup. |
... |
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