Bayer After Monsanto: Its Brands, the 2026 Supreme Court Roundup Ruling, and Whether Boycotts Work

When the German company Bayer acquired Monsanto in 2018, activists who had spent years campaigning against Monsanto turned their attention to Bayer. Lists of Bayer products to boycott circulated widely, featuring familiar household names in medicine cabinets: pain relievers, allergy pills, antacids, vitamins, and skin care products. The idea was simple: consumers who objected to Monsanto’s herbicides and genetically engineered seeds could pressure the merged company by avoiding its consumer brands.

Since then, Bayer has faced tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging that Roundup caused cancer, paid billions of dollars in settlements, changed the formula of its residential Roundup products, and in June 2026 won a major Supreme Court decision limiting future failure-to-warn lawsuits. This article reviews what Bayer makes, what the science and courts have said about its most controversial products, whether consumer boycotts work, and how people can make informed choices.

What Does Bayer Make?

Bayer is organized into three main divisions. Its Crop Science division, which absorbed Monsanto, sells seeds and traits, including genetically engineered corn, soybean, and cotton seeds under brands such as DEKALB and Asgrow, vegetable seeds, and crop protection chemicals including glyphosate-based Roundup herbicides for agriculture and neonicotinoid insecticides such as imidacloprid and clothianidin. Its Pharmaceuticals division sells prescription drugs for cardiovascular disease, cancer, eye disease, and women’s health. Its Consumer Health division sells over-the-counter products, including the original Bayer aspirin, Aleve pain reliever, Claritin allergy medicine, Alka-Seltzer, MiraLAX laxative, One A Day and Flintstones vitamins, Midol, and Afrin nasal spray, along with skin and foot care brands.

Bayer has also sold off several businesses over the years, including its animal health division and some consumer brands, so older boycott lists may include products the company no longer owns. In the United States, residential Roundup lawn and garden products are marketed by Scotts Miracle-Gro under an agreement with Bayer, and in 2023 Bayer replaced glyphosate in U.S. residential Roundup products with other active ingredients, while glyphosate remains in agricultural formulations.

What Is the Roundup Controversy?

The legal battle over Roundup began after the International Agency for Research on Cancer evaluated glyphosate. IARC’s 2015 summary in The Lancet Oncology, by Kathryn Guyton and colleagues, classified glyphosate as probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A), citing limited evidence in humans for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, sufficient evidence in experimental animals, and mechanistic evidence. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and several other regulators concluded that glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic at expected exposure levels, in part because they weighed different studies and focused on pure glyphosate rather than formulated products.

Epidemiological studies have produced mixed results. A 2018 analysis of the Agricultural Health Study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute by Gabriella Andreotti and colleagues followed more than 54,000 pesticide applicators and found no association between glyphosate use and cancer overall or non-Hodgkin lymphoma, though it suggested a possible increased risk of acute myeloid leukemia among the highest users that needed confirmation. A 2019 meta-analysis in Mutation Research by Luoping Zhang and colleagues, focusing on the most highly exposed people, found a 41 percent increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and described supporting evidence from animal and mechanistic studies. A 2019 pooled analysis of agricultural cohorts from France, Norway, and the United States in the International Journal of Epidemiology by Maria Leon and colleagues found no overall association between glyphosate and non-Hodgkin lymphoma but an elevated risk of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, a subtype, of borderline statistical significance. Our article on reducing Roundup use in communities discusses local efforts to limit exposure.

How Did the Case Go From Jury Verdicts to the Supreme Court?

In 2018, a California jury awarded a school groundskeeper with non-Hodgkin lymphoma $289 million in damages against Monsanto, later reduced on appeal, and further large verdicts followed. Bayer’s share price fell sharply, and in 2020 the company agreed to pay about $10 billion to resolve many existing claims. More than 100,000 claims were filed in total. Bayer pursued a strategy to contain the litigation, including asking the Supreme Court to decide whether federal pesticide law prevents state lawsuits claiming that Roundup should have carried a cancer warning.

On June 25, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 7–2 in Monsanto v. Durnell that because EPA had not required a cancer warning on glyphosate-based products, federal law preempted a Missouri man’s failure-to-warn claim, overturning his $1.25 million jury award. Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Neil Gorsuch dissented. Bayer called the decision a landmark ruling that would help significantly contain the litigation and noted that a proposed nationwide class settlement, announced in February 2026 and reported at about $7.25 billion, had received preliminary approval to compensate current and future claimants alleging non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Lawyers for plaintiffs said the ruling closed the courthouse door to people harmed by pesticides. The Court did not rule on whether glyphosate causes cancer.

Other Controversies

Neonicotinoid insecticides and bees. Bayer developed imidacloprid and clothianidin, widely used neonicotinoid insecticides often applied as seed coatings. A large field study published in Science in 2017 by Ben Woodcock and colleagues across Hungary, Germany, and the United Kingdom found country-specific effects: in Hungary, negative effects on honey bees associated with clothianidin persisted over winter, with 24 percent smaller colonies the following spring, while effects in Germany were positive, and reproduction of wild bees was negatively correlated with neonicotinoid residues. The European Union banned outdoor use of three neonicotinoids in 2018.

The Essure birth control device. Bayer’s Essure, a permanent contraceptive implant, generated thousands of complaints of pain, bleeding, and device migration. A 2015 study in the BMJ by Jialin Mao and colleagues found that compared with laparoscopic sterilization, hysteroscopic sterilization using the device had a similar risk of unintended pregnancy but a more than 10-fold higher risk of reoperation within a year. Bayer stopped selling Essure in the United States at the end of 2018 and agreed in 2020 to pay about $1.6 billion to resolve most U.S. claims.

Legacy PCB contamination. Monsanto was the main U.S. producer of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) until they were banned in 1979. Bayer has faced lawsuits from cities, states, and school districts over PCB contamination, including the case described in our article on San Diego’s lawsuit over PCBs in its bay.

How Can You Avoid Bayer Products?

For people who choose to avoid Bayer’s consumer products, alternatives are usually easy to find because many Bayer brands contain common active ingredients available as store-brand generics or from other manufacturers.

Generic over-the-counter medicines must contain the same active ingredient in the same strength as the brand-name versions, and they are usually much cheaper. Switching to generics is a practical step regardless of how one feels about any company. For prescription drugs, patients should talk with their doctors before changing medications, since some have no direct alternatives.

Do Consumer Boycotts Work?

Boycotts of large, diversified companies rarely have measurable financial effects because consumer products are only part of their revenue and participation is usually limited. Research on boycotts suggests their main impact often comes through publicity and reputational pressure rather than lost sales. In Bayer’s case, litigation costs, regulatory decisions, scientific assessments, and shareholder pressure have had far greater effects on its finances and decisions, including the reformulation of residential Roundup. Investors have pressed the company over the Monsanto acquisition, which many analysts consider to have destroyed significant shareholder value. Shareholder activism, discussed in our article on activists at Monsanto shareholder meetings, has been one avenue for pressure. Boycotts can still serve as personal expressions of values, and collective consumer demand for organic and non-GMO products has shaped markets.

What Does the Supreme Court Ruling Mean for Consumers?

The Durnell decision concerns legal liability, not science. It held that state law cannot require a cancer warning that federal regulators have not required, so people can no longer win failure-to-warn claims on that basis while EPA’s labeling position stands. It did not declare glyphosate safe or unsafe. People who believe they were harmed by Roundup may still have options through the proposed class settlement or other legal theories, and anyone in that situation should consult a qualified attorney. The ruling also places greater weight on EPA’s pesticide evaluations, making the agency’s scientific reviews and any future labeling decisions more consequential.

How Can You Reduce Glyphosate Exposure?

For consumers concerned about glyphosate, practical steps reduce exposure regardless of brand loyalties. Choosing organic grains, oats, and legumes lowers dietary residues, since glyphosate is often used on conventional grains before harvest. Using non-chemical weed control at home, such as mulching, hand weeding, and boiling water on patios, avoids residential herbicide use. Following label directions and wearing protective equipment when using any herbicide reduces exposure for those who use them. Communities can adopt integrated pest management for parks and schools, as some cities have done.

Bayer’s Perspective

Bayer maintains that glyphosate is safe when used as directed, citing assessments by EPA and other regulators worldwide, and argues that it is essential for modern farming, including no-till practices that conserve soil. The company has invested in developing alternatives and new herbicides, emphasized its pharmaceutical and consumer health innovations, and described the Supreme Court ruling as providing regulatory clarity for farmers and industry. Understanding the company’s position, alongside critics’ concerns and the scientific evidence, helps consumers make their own judgments.

Corporate Concentration in Agriculture

The Bayer-Monsanto merger was part of a wave of consolidation in the seed and agrochemical industry, alongside mergers that created Corteva from Dow and DuPont and the acquisition of Syngenta by ChemChina. A small number of companies now control most of the global seed and pesticide markets. Critics argue that this concentration raises prices for farmers, reduces competition and innovation, and gives companies outsized influence over agricultural research and policy. Supporters argue that scale is needed to fund expensive research and regulatory testing. These structural concerns underlie much of the activism directed at Bayer, beyond any single product.

Glyphosate Use on Farms

Agricultural glyphosate use remains extensive. A 2016 analysis in Environmental Sciences Europe by Charles Benbrook found that glyphosate had become the most heavily used herbicide in history, with global use rising almost fifteenfold after herbicide-tolerant crops were introduced in 1996, and that it was increasingly used on non-genetically engineered grains before harvest. This widespread use is why glyphosate residues are found in many foods and why biomonitoring studies detect it in most Americans’ urine. Even with residential reformulation, agricultural use means consumer exposure continues, primarily through food.

A Balanced View

Bayer is a large company with products that many people rely on, including common medicines with long safety records, alongside products that have generated serious controversy and litigation. Scientific assessments of glyphosate differ, and the 2026 Supreme Court ruling resolved a legal question rather than a scientific one. Consumers who want to express disapproval can choose alternatives, and generics make this easy for many over-the-counter products. But the most significant forces shaping Bayer’s practices have been courts, regulators, scientific evaluations, and investors. Staying informed and supporting policies that ensure rigorous, independent safety assessments may have more impact than any boycott list.

Practical Takeaways

Read labels to see which company makes the products you buy. Choose generic versions of over-the-counter medicines to save money and, if you wish, avoid specific brands. Talk to your doctor before switching prescription drugs. Reduce glyphosate exposure by choosing organic grains and using non-chemical weed control at home. If you believe you were harmed by Roundup, consult an attorney about current legal options.

Questions to Ask About Boycott Lists

Is the list current, or does it include brands the company has sold? Does it explain why each product is listed? Are there reasonable alternatives for each item, especially medicines? What outcome does the boycott seek, and how would success be measured? Do other strategies, such as supporting regulation, research, or shareholder action, offer more influence? These questions help turn a general sense of disapproval into informed action.

Aspirin: Bayer’s Original Product

Bayer first marketed aspirin in 1899, and it remains one of the world’s most widely used medicines. Guidance on aspirin has changed in recent years. In 2022, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended against starting daily low-dose aspirin to prevent a first heart attack or stroke in adults 60 and older, and advised that adults 40 to 59 at higher cardiovascular risk decide individually with their clinicians, because bleeding risks can outweigh benefits. People who already have heart disease or have had a stroke may still benefit from aspirin as prescribed. Anyone taking daily aspirin should talk with a clinician before stopping or starting, regardless of brand.

Retiring the Monsanto Name

After completing the acquisition in 2018, Bayer retired the Monsanto name from its products and corporate branding, folding Monsanto’s operations into its Crop Science division. The move was widely seen as an effort to distance the company from Monsanto’s controversial reputation. Monsanto continued to exist as a legal entity for purposes such as litigation, which is why court cases like Monsanto v. Durnell still carry the name. For activists, the rebranding did little to change their focus, which shifted to Bayer as the owner of Monsanto’s products and liabilities.

Investor Pressure and Restructuring

The Monsanto acquisition, valued at about $63 billion, is widely regarded by investors as one of the most costly corporate deals in recent history because of the litigation that followed. Bayer’s market value fell substantially in the years after the purchase. Under pressure from shareholders, the company has pursued cost-cutting and a major organizational restructuring, while weighing options for its divisions. Investor concerns about litigation risk drove much of Bayer’s legal strategy, including the push for a Supreme Court ruling and the class settlement.

Farmworkers and Applicators

The people with the highest glyphosate exposure are not consumers but farmers, farmworkers, groundskeepers, and landscapers who mix and apply herbicides. Studies of cancer risk focus on these groups for that reason. Protective equipment, such as gloves and long sleeves, proper mixing practices, and following label instructions reduce exposure. Workplace protections and training for pesticide applicators are important regardless of how the scientific debate over glyphosate is resolved.

Prescription Drugs and Seeds

Bayer’s pharmaceutical division produces medicines for conditions such as atrial fibrillation, chronic kidney disease, prostate cancer, and eye disease, many of which have few direct substitutes. Boycotting prescription medicines is generally not practical or safe, and treatment decisions should be based on medical needs. On the agricultural side, Bayer is one of the largest seed companies in the world, selling corn, soybean, cotton, and vegetable seeds under various brands. Farmers choosing seeds weigh yields, traits, prices, and support services, and alternatives depend on regional availability. Consumers have little direct influence over farmers’ seed choices, except through demand for organic and non-GMO products.

Looking Ahead

The Supreme Court ruling and class settlement may bring the Roundup litigation toward resolution, though appeals, opt-outs, and other legal theories could continue. EPA’s ongoing review of glyphosate and any future labeling decisions will carry added significance, since the Court tied warning requirements to federal action. Scientific research on glyphosate, neonicotinoids, and other agricultural chemicals continues. Meanwhile, consumer demand for organic and lower-pesticide foods, along with policies on pesticide use in communities, will shape the market for Bayer’s products and its competitors’.

The Role of Regulators

The Supreme Court’s reasoning places EPA at the center of glyphosate warnings: if the agency concludes that a cancer warning is warranted and changes label requirements, manufacturers would have to comply nationwide. EPA’s glyphosate assessments have themselves faced legal challenges, and in 2022 a federal appeals court ordered the agency to reconsider parts of its evaluation, including its cancer analysis. How EPA completes its review will therefore matter for consumers, farmers, and future litigation. Public comment periods on pesticide registrations give citizens a way to participate in these decisions.

Personal Values and Purchasing

Many people use their purchasing decisions to reflect their values, whether supporting local farms, avoiding companies whose practices they oppose, or choosing products with certain certifications. Even if a boycott has little financial effect on a large company, aligning purchases with values can be meaningful to individuals and, when many people act similarly, can shift markets over time. The growth of organic and non-GMO markets shows how collective consumer choices can influence the food industry. Making those choices with accurate information, rather than outdated lists, increases their effectiveness. Checking current brand ownership, understanding what each product contains, and knowing which concerns are supported by evidence help ensure that purchasing decisions reflect both values and facts.

Common Myths

“The Supreme Court ruled Roundup is safe.” The Court ruled on federal preemption of warning claims, not on the science.

“Residential Roundup still contains glyphosate.” In the United States, Bayer replaced glyphosate in residential Roundup products in 2023; agricultural products still contain it.

“All Bayer products are dangerous.” Most consumer health products contain common, well-studied active ingredients.

“Boycotts will bankrupt Bayer.” Consumer boycotts have limited financial effect on large diversified companies.

“Scientists agree glyphosate causes cancer.” Scientific bodies disagree; IARC and EPA reached different conclusions.

Key Terms

Glyphosate: The active ingredient in agricultural Roundup herbicides.

Preemption: The legal principle that federal law can override conflicting state law.

FIFRA: The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, which governs pesticide registration and labeling.

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma: A group of blood cancers at the center of Roundup lawsuits.

Neonicotinoids: A class of insecticides linked to harm to bees in some studies.

The Bottom Line

Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, sells crop seeds and chemicals, prescription drugs, and well-known over-the-counter brands such as Aleve, Claritin, Bayer aspirin, MiraLAX, and One A Day. Its ownership of Roundup brought more than 100,000 lawsuits after IARC classified glyphosate as probably carcinogenic, though studies and regulators disagree on cancer risk. In June 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 7–2 that federal law preempts state failure-to-warn claims, limiting future Roundup lawsuits, while a proposed $7.25 billion settlement proceeds. Consumers who want to avoid Bayer products can easily choose generic alternatives for many over-the-counter medicines, but litigation, regulation, and investor pressure have shaped the company far more than boycotts.

Frequently Asked Questions

What consumer products does Bayer make?

Brands include Bayer aspirin, Aleve, Claritin, Alka-Seltzer, MiraLAX, Afrin, Midol, and One A Day and Flintstones vitamins.

Does Roundup still contain glyphosate?

Agricultural Roundup does; U.S. residential Roundup products replaced glyphosate with other ingredients in 2023.

What did the Supreme Court decide about Roundup?

In June 2026, it ruled 7–2 that federal law preempts state failure-to-warn claims when EPA has not required a cancer warning.

Does glyphosate cause cancer?

Evidence is mixed: IARC classified it as probably carcinogenic, while EPA and a large farmer cohort study did not find it likely to cause cancer at typical exposures.

Are generic medicines as good as Bayer brands?

Generic over-the-counter medicines contain the same active ingredients in the same strengths.

References

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2. Andreotti G, Koutros S, Hofmann JN, et al. Glyphosate Use and Cancer Incidence in the Agricultural Health Study. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2018;110(5):509–516. PMID 29136183
3. Zhang L, Rana I, Shaffer RM, et al. Exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides and risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma: A meta-analysis and supporting evidence. Mutation Research/Reviews in Mutation Research. 2019;781:186–206. PMID 31342895
4. Leon ME, Schinasi LH, Lebailly P, et al. Pesticide use and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoid malignancies in agricultural cohorts from France, Norway and the USA: a pooled analysis from the AGRICOH consortium. International Journal of Epidemiology. 2019;48(5):1519–1535. PMID 30880337
5. Benbrook CM. Trends in glyphosate herbicide use in the United States and globally. Environmental Sciences Europe. 2016;28(1):3. PMID 27752438
6. Woodcock BA, Bullock JM, Shore RF, et al. Country-specific effects of neonicotinoid pesticides on honey bees and wild bees. Science. 2017;356(6345):1393–1395. PMID 28663502
7. Mao J, Pfeifer S, Schlegel P, Sedrakyan A. Safety and efficacy of hysteroscopic sterilization compared with laparoscopic sterilization: an observational cohort study. BMJ. 2015;351:h5162. PMID 26462857
8. Bayer. Monsanto wins landmark Roundup case at U.S. Supreme Court. June 25, 2026. bayer.com
9. Gray DC / WCAX. Supreme Court blocks Roundup cancer lawsuit. June 25, 2026. wcax.com

Last updated: October 6, 2026