Interagency MOU Addresses Chemical Contaminants in Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products
In a move described as advancing the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative, the Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and EPA have updated a memorandum of understanding (MOU) addressing drug residues, pesticide residues, and chemical contaminants in meat, poultry, and egg products. Announced July 10, 2026, the MOU is intended […]
FIFRA Preempts Label-Based Failure-to-Warn Claims, Supreme Court Rules
On June 25, 2026, the Supreme Court held, 7-2, that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts a state-law failure-to-warn claim alleging that Monsanto failed to warn users that the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. The decision in Monsanto Co. v. Durnell concludes that EPA’s approval of a pesticide label without a cancer warning […]
Texas AG Launches Glyphosate Investigation into Major Food Companies
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has initiated an investigation into glyphosate residue in foods, especially foods containing oats, his office announced June 2, 2026. The investigation will examine whether major food companies are complying with Texas law and whether consumers have been misled by health claims on common food products. The office has already issued […]
EPA Avoids Court Order on Organophosphates, but Timeline Concerns Remain
The Ninth Circuit has declined to force EPA to act on a petition brought by nonprofits targeting organophosphate pesticides, calling the request “premature” despite noting concerns with the agency’s response timeline for certain pesticides. The 2021 petition, brought by environmental and farmworker groups, asks EPA to revoke Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) food […]
California Bill Would Phase Out PFAS Pesticides, Require Label Disclosures
California is considering legislation to phase out use, require labeling, and prohibit registrations of pesticides containing PFAS, defined as a class of fluorinated organic chemicals containing at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom. AB 1603 states that PFAS exposure “poses a significant threat to the environment and public health” and that their intentional use in […]
Supreme Court to Weigh FIFRA Preemption in Roundup Cancer Warning Case
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear Monsanto’s appeal of a $1.2 million jury verdict in favor of a plaintiff who claimed Roundup weedkiller caused his cancer, focusing on whether the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts state failure-to-warn claims when EPA has not required the warning. At the core of the dispute […]
Court Reinstates Suit Alleging Roundup “Expiration” Due to Impurity
Allegations that Monsanto’s popular Roundup-brand weedkillers degrade into a carcinogenic impurity will proceed, after the Ninth Circuit reinstated a proposed class action a district court had dismissed for failure to state a claim. Unlike the many personal injury suits over Roundup, the plaintiffs in this case assert purely economic harms. They allege that consumers would […]
First Trials Scheduled in Long-Running Paraquat Litigation
The first three trials have been scheduled to begin in October 2025 in a multidistrict litigation with over 5,800 plaintiffs claiming that exposure to the pesticide paraquat dichloride caused them to develop Parkinson’s disease. A second set of trials is scheduled to begin in April 2026. The case was filed in June 2021. A previous […]
EPA Issues Seldom-Used Emergency Order to Suspend Registrations of Pesticide DCPA
For the first time in almost 40 years, EPA has issued an emergency order under section 6(c)(3) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act to suspend the registrations of all pesticide products containing the active ingredient dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA). The emergency measure is based on DCPA’s thyroid effects in fetuses, which EPA deemed so […]
EPA Requests Comment on Petition Requiring Proof of Effectiveness for Systemic Insecticides
On November 24, 2023, EPA announced that the Agency is seeking public comment on a petition filed by environmental groups requesting that EPA consider efficacy data when evaluating the registration of neonicotinoids and other systemic insecticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Comments will be accepted through January 23, 2024. In 1980, […]