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Opinion: Supreme Court Ruling on Roundup Points to a Confusing Difference Between the Law and Science

by Alex Smolak

Published 2026-06-27 11:00:00+00:00

When a jury decides a chemical causes cancer, does that mean the science is settled?

0:00 / 10:41 · Narrator Gacrux

Context

When a jury hands down a massive verdict against a weedkiller manufacturer or a social media platform, the headlines often treat the ruling as a newly discovered scientific fact. But writing on 27 June 2026, epidemiologist Alex Smolak points out a basic translation error. Science and the legal system use the exact same word—causation—to mean completely different things. Smolak outlines the gap between holding a corporation responsible in a courtroom and proving a biological reality in a lab.

Show notes

An explanation of how the legal system and the scientific community use the term causation to answer entirely different questions. Using recent lawsuits over Roundup, talc, and social media as examples, it shows why jury verdicts are often mistaken for scientific facts. It contrasts how science evaluates broad risk with how courts resolve individual disputes, noting that confusing the two damages public trust.

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