Today, Bayer’s Monsanto will make its case before the U.S. Supreme Court in an attempt to limit multiple lawsuits claiming that its glyphosate-based Roundup weedkiller causes cancer and that the company failed to adequately warn the public about the risk.
The German company garnered the support of President Trump, who signed an executive order on February 18 prioritizing the production of glyphosate on the grounds that the herbicide is critical to U.S. security, as reported by USA Today, which also granted limited immunity to manufacturers of glyphosate and phosphorus.
However, the move sparked criticism from some of the administration’s supporters – especially advocates of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement who are concerned about pesticides, the umbrella that herbicides fall under.
The order came amid debates across multiple states over whether makers of products containing glyphosate, including Monsanto, should be shielded from legal action contending that the widely used chemical causes cancer.
Just a day before the executive order was signed, Bayer announced that it had agreed to pay up to $7.25 billion to settle tens of thousands of lawsuits against it.
And around the same time, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the company’s rebuttal and determine whether it would block thousands of lawsuits linked to cancer risk – a high-stakes decision with billions of dollars on the line.
So, what’s the consensus on pesticide use among Americans leading up to the Supreme Court arguments?
Public Sentiment Toward Pesticides
Reuters and Ipsos conducted a poll of 4,557 U.S. adults nationwide ahead of the decision in which 78% of respondents – including 81% of Democrats, 78% of Republicans, and 77% of independents – expressed concerns about the use of pesticides in food crops.
Additionally, 63% of participants said that they oppose protections against lawsuits for makers of cancer-causing products – even when companies warn of such risks.
These findings follow the release of the 2026 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce report by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a health advocacy organization, which ranked the fruits and vegetables with the highest levels of pesticide residues in its annual ‘Dirty Dozen’ list.
Let’s take a look at the worst offenders.
The Dirty Dozen
Spinach topped this year’s list, testing higher for pesticides than any other type of produce by weight in government tests.
Pesticide-packed offenders rounding out the Dirty Dozen include:
- Kale, collard, and mustard greens
- Strawberries
- Grapes
- Nectarines
- Peaches
- Cherries
- Apples
- Blackberries
- Pears
- Blueberries
The report also revealed that over 60% of the Dirty Dozen samples were found to contain pesticides known as “forever chemicals,” or PFAS, because their molecular bonds can take decades and sometimes even centuries to fully break down in the environment.
So, what are their primary risks?
Risks of Forever Chemicals
After the list came out, CNN reported that several PFAS chemicals have been associated with health risks including cancer, obesity, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, decreased fertility, liver damage, hormone disruption, and damage to the immune system, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with some of these chemicals causing damage at levels as low as a billionth of a gram.
“[PFAS] persist in the body and environment, binding to proteins and accumulating in the blood and organs,” said Kristy Thomas, a registered nutritionist at Prowise Healthcare.
“In produce, they contaminate via soil and water, with no safe exposure level established, unlike pesticides with EPA tolerances,” Thomas told FI.
The health expert added that these adverse effects can be even worse for certain demographics, including fetuses, children, and pregnant women, as developing brains and bodies are hypersensitive.
“Farmworkers and low-income communities near agricultural areas also face higher risks due to occupational and environmental contact (CDC ATSDR reports),” Thomas explained.
To reduce pesticide exposure, Thomas recommends opting for organic or lower-residue items like avocados, as well as frozen or canned produce items, which often have fewer residues.
“Wash produce thoroughly (vinegar soak helps), diversify your plate, and support regenerative farming,” Thomas suggested.
The Other Side of the Argument
It’s worth mentioning that the presence of pesticide residues doesn’t necessarily mean the produce is unsafe.
“USDA and FDA monitoring confirms 99% of samples are below EPA tolerances, which include 100 to 1,000 times the safety margins for children,” Thomas told FI, emphasizing that “context matters.”
The Alliance for Food and Farming (AFF), which represents both organic and conventional produce farmers, has criticized the EWG’s annual reports for several years now, as prior reports by the USDA and FDA have shown that when “farmers use pesticides, they follow the stringent laws and regulations governing pesticide use to provide safe and healthy fruits and vegetables for America’s families, including their own,” an AFF spokesperson said in a statement.
Daniel Blaustein-Rejto, who runs the Food & Agriculture program at The Breakthrough Institute, a think tank that researches and advocates for how technology can address environmental challenges in the food system, agreed that third-party reports like the ‘Dirty Dozen’ tend to conflate the detection of pesticide residues with danger.
According to Blaustein-Rejto, “the exposure level and the toxicity of the pesticide” matter most.
“In December, FDA reported that 97% of domestically produced food samples had residues below EPA’s limits,” Blaustein-Rejto told FI, though he acknowledged that neither the FDA’s nor the USDA’s monitoring approach is perfect.
The expert also noted that many of the arguments comparing organic to conventional produce can be misleading, as organic farming still involves pesticide use, though it limits them to “certain naturally derived compounds like copper or biologicals” that aren’t 100% risk-free.
However, he acknowledged that the pesticide residue levels of organic produce are “reliably lower than conventional products” and that many of the pesticides used are relatively safe.
“My concern is that overstating the risks of pesticide residues or urging people to eat more expensive organic food can backfire, discouraging people from eating fruits and vegetables, which are unequivocally beneficial for health,” Blaustein-Rejto explained.
He makes a solid point, as there are plenty of health risks associated with inadequate consumption of fruits and vegetables as well.
The Food Institute Podcast
In this episode of Food for Thought Leadership, Food Institute Chief Content Officer Kelly Beaton steps in as guest host to interview Fransmart CEO Dan Rowe on the evolving restaurant labor market. Rowe challenges operators to view labor not as a cost to minimize but as a strategic investment, noting that the most successful brands are those that “staff for the sales they want” and prioritize retention, engagement, and culture amid ongoing workforce constraints.
