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The pesticide maker Bayer will argue before the U.S. Supreme Court today that it should be immune from lawsuits if its products are found to cause cancer.

The Court's decision would set a wide-ranging precedent for similar cases and nullify laws protecting Iowans' right to sue over the health-related effects of glyphosate.

Driven by pressure from constituents and case studies across the state, the Iowa Legislature recently defeated an immunity shield for Bayer, which would have meant the company can't be sued if there's evidence its products caused cancer among people who use it.

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Food and Water Watch Senior Attorney Dani Replogle said Bayer has simply sidestepped state laws and taken its fight to the federal level.

"If Bayer wins this lawsuit, then all the work that we've done on the Cancer Gag Act will be futile," said Replogle, "because those lawsuits will be preempted at the federal level, and the right to sue at the state level will be no longer available for cancer patients."

Bayer has argued that it is within Environmental Protection Agency safety standards as set forth by product labeling rules.

The EPA's ruling on whether or not glyphosate is carcinogenic has not been finalized largely because the agency has been sued by pesticide makers, which has kept the agency's final ruling in legal limbo.

While the EPA has not declared glyphosate to be carcinogenic, Replogle said research by the International Agency on Cancer a decade ago and Food and Water Watch studies prove otherwise.

"The bricks that were propping up this idea," said Replogle, "that glyphosate is safe and non-carcinogenic, are starting to fall."

Bayer increased its spending on lobbying by 16% between the end of last year and the first quarter of 2026. In Iowa, a state where many organizations pool their money to hire a single lobbyist, Bayer has four.