Monsanto v. Durnell · ¶136

At the end of the day, then, the majority’s theory of express preemption rests on a misinterpretation of FIFRA. The EPA’s approval of a pesticide’s label does not create a labeling requirement under FIFRA. Instead, FIFRA’s key labeling requirement—the statutory prohibition on misbranding—continues to apply to registered pesticides even though the EPA has approved their labels. State-law claims that parallel the misbranding prohibition are not preempted, even if the claim requires a warning that was absent from the EPA-approved label. The majority thinks it “implausibl[e]” that the “EPA’s registration and labeling determinations do not have preemptive force.” Ante, at 15. But, at bottom, the majority’s quibble is with the text of FIFRA’s misbranding requirement and preemption provision, not with Durnell’s claim.

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