The agrochemical giant, reeling from over $8.68 billion in pre-reduction jury verdicts and $11 billion in settlements, is pushing state legislatures to pass bills that would block "failure-to-warn" claims tied to glyphosate, Roundup's cancer-linked ingredient. 

But their heavy-handed tactics have sparked fierce resistance, exposing the corporate underbelly of a company desperate to dodge accountability.

In Missouri, home to Bayer's North American Crop Science headquarters, the company ramped up its lobbyists from four to nine - or about 1.29 lobbyists for each of the seven Senators of the Missouri Senate Agriculture Committee - directly before introducing Senate Bill 14, and its companion House Bill 2763.

Both bills - nearly identical to those seen in each state where courts have awarded billions for harms - were aimed at shielding Monsanto-Bayer from lawsuits claiming Roundup causes non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Missouri trial lawyer Matt Clement has successfully represented clients in their claims that Roundup was the cause of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

"Monsanto is trying to push legislation that would take away constitutional rights," Clement told ZeroHedge. "It [Bayer] has not been successful in getting courts to buy its preemption argument, so it is resorting to trying to pass state legislation that will do what most courts have refused to do."  

Missouri courts have already hammered Bayer with massive verdicts: $611 million, upheld on appeals in 2025 for three plaintiffs in Cole County (originally $1.56 billion), and $1.25 million for John Durnell in St. Louis. 

With 40,000 cases still pending in Missouri alone, Bayer's panic seemed palpable. Their strategy? Convince lawmakers that EPA-approved labels, which omit cancer warnings - despite jurys awarding plaintiffs a whopping total of $19.68 billion in verdicts and settlements to-date - should preempt state litigation.

"State law claims, which Monsanto is trying to take away with the proposed legislation, are the only way for private citizens to hold companies accountable," Clement explains. 

In 1947, Congress created The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Last significantly amended in 1972, FIFRA - administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - requires pesticides to be registered with the EPA before they can be sold or distributed in the United States.