Bayer promised to offer a “small thank you” to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin for removing a warning about the company’s Roundup herbicide, which is the subject of tens of thousands of cancer lawsuits, according to internal emails revealed during a Congressional hearing on Tuesday.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, said she obtained an email written by one of Mr. Zeldin’s senior advisers through a Freedom of Information Act request. He said the emails show Zeldin has a conflict of interest with one of the world’s largest companies, which has long fought to avoid liability for its products.
The email from Mr. Zeldin’s senior advisers refers to a situation that began several years ago, when California required Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, to be labeled as a known carcinogen. However, a federal appeals court invalidated this warning.
And last year, the EPA updated its webpage about glyphosate and issued a letter saying it does not approve Roundup’s label, which includes a warning that it causes cancer. Bayer used the letter in an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which on Monday heard the company’s argument that it should be granted legal immunity from such claims.
“I received an internal email from Bayer saying they would like to thank you and your agency for withdrawing your support for California’s warning, because the case before the U.S. Supreme Court depends on whether you withdraw your support for glyphosate without warning the American people,” Ocasio-Cortez said during Tuesday’s hearing. “Mr. Zeldin, do you understand the conflict of interest that is now before the American people?”
Zeldin did not respond directly, saying his agency plans to conduct a review of glyphosate later this year.
Ocasio-Cortez told Zeldin, referring to the expected vote on the farm bill, which includes provisions shielding pesticide companies from legal liability.
“You’re right,” Zeldin replied.
EPA told Investigate Midwest that it has “held numerous induction meetings over the past year as part of our regular stakeholder engagement. The meeting (with Bayer)…was only a standard induction meeting.”
The agency did not respond to questions about what Bayer’s “small thanks” meant.
Bayer told Investigate Midwest, “The idea that meeting with the EPA constitutes a conflict of interest is ridiculous. We cannot speak to memos that we did not write, but as a company with regulatory oversight of its products, Bayer meets with the agency as a normal part of the regulatory process.”
The statement said the line “expressing a small thank you” was simply meant to express gratitude to Zeldin.
“Our CEO thanked the EPA for concluding that California’s proposed cancer warning is misleading and unconstitutional and for updating its website to reflect the Ninth Circuit’s decision,” the statement concluded.
Investigate Midwest reached out to Ocasio-Cortez’s office on Wednesday about the underlying email, but did not immediately receive a response.
Nathan Donley, director of environmental health sciences at the Center for Biological Diversity, which advocates for pesticide bans, said the emails presented at the hearing were deeply worrying.
“These documents show that one of the most powerful agrochemical companies in the world has unfettered access to EPA executives and raise serious questions about how far Trump’s political operatives within the EPA and the Department of Justice are willing to go to fight for Bayer,” Donley said in a statement to Investigative Midwest. “It’s infuriating that EPA administrators are so accessible to the pesticide industry, and they almost certainly have no time for the thousands of Americans who suffer from cancers related to glyphosate and other EPA-approved pesticides.”
Bayer paid plaintiffs hundreds of millions of dollars after a jury found Roundup caused cancer. The company continues to lobby state and federal authorities seeking legal immunity from further claims. Bayer claims Roundup does not cause cancer.
Pesticide and herbicide applications continue to be linked to cancer. Earlier this year, Investigate Midwest found a correlation between pesticide use and cancer risk in America’s agricultural counties.
Ocasio-Cortez said the emails revealed Tuesday also showed Bayer wanted to discuss “the Supreme Court case” with Zeldin at a July 7, 2025, meeting. Ocasio-Cortez also presented visitor records showing the day’s meetings.
By the time of this meeting, Bayer had been seeking a Supreme Court hearing on legal immunity for years. The Biden administration has asked the court not to hear Bayer’s appeal in 2022, according to The New Lede.
But in January, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Bayer’s case. Along with the EPA’s letter, Bayer also cited President Trump’s executive order calling for increased production of Roundup.
On Tuesday, when Ocasio-Cortez first asked Zeldin if she had met with Bayer representatives to discuss a possible Supreme Court hearing on the cancer claims, Zeldin denied it.
“Have you ever participated in a meeting with Bayer to discuss any legal or litigation issues facing the company?”
“No, not at all,” Zeldin answered. “The meeting with them was very short and the topic did not come up.”
Ocasio-Cortez confronted Zeldin again. “Are you sure they didn’t bring up anything about your work?”
“100%, absolutely, there may have been some pre-brainstorming of potential topics,” Zeldin said. “The topic was not brought up.”
When presented with an email indicating that the topic of discussion was Bayer’s Supreme Court case, Zeldin reiterated that “the team may have been brainstorming potential topics.”
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