Kelly Ryerson stood outside the Supreme Court on April 27 and accused the government of protecting corporations as a few hundred protesters gathered over a case that could make it harder to sue Bayer for glyphosate-related cancer claims. The justices were hearing oral arguments in Monsanto Company v Durnell, and the outcome could shape thousands of pending lawsuits.
The crowd came with signs that asked, “How much cancer is acceptable?” and declared, “Monsanto knew.” For Ryerson, who is known on Instagram as “Glyphosate Girl,” the fight was not abstract. Bayer has already settled almost 100,000 glyphosate cases and paid about $11bn, yet tens of thousands of claims remain unresolved and new cases keep coming in.
That made the protest search-worthy now: the Supreme Court argument landed on the same day activists were trying to press lawmakers on Capitol Hill over pesticide liability language in the Farm Bill. After the rally, they headed to the House of Representatives and used X to pressure members as Congress weighed language that could shield Bayer from liability over pesticides.
The political split is harder to miss because many of the women leading the rally had built their public profiles through the Make America Healthy Again movement that rallied behind Robert F Kennedy Jr’s presidential run. Donald Trump promised to bring Kennedy on as health secretary to help “Make America Healthy Again,” and about 40 percent of Americans say they support the movement, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll. But the Trump administration backed Bayer at the Supreme Court, putting the White House on the opposite side of activists who had treated the campaign as their opening into power.
Most of the women who spoke were white, wealthy and well-educated, with backgrounds in consulting, banking or media before moving into health and wellness. Zen Honeycutt of Moms Across America, Vani Hari of Food Babe and Alex Clark, a Turning Point USA contributor who is not yet a parent, were among the names drawing attention at the rally. Their presence showed how far the movement has moved beyond wellness branding and into a direct fight over who sets the rules for pesticide liability.
The court has not said how it will rule, but the stakes are plain. If the justices make it harder to sue Bayer, the company could get relief in a fight that has already cost it billions and still has tens of thousands of claims hanging over it. If they do not, the pressure shifts back to Congress, where the fight over pesticide liability language is already underway.
