(Des Moines) In a cramped Senate meeting room, Iowa senators voted 2-1 Wednesday to advance a bill that would defend pesticide companies from lawsuits based on failure to warn claims.
The same bill was put forward last year and is again supported by Bayer, which manufactures the pesticide RoundUp, and is opposed by environmental groups and the Iowa Farmers Union.
Bayer has faced a series of lawsuits where plaintiffs allege the product caused their cancer, though the company maintains its product and the chemical glyphosate is not carcinogenic.
Sen. Mike Bousselot, chair of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee, said Senate Study Bill 1051 means “you shouldn’t be able to sue a company for having a label that is appropriately following all the rules for labeling.”
The legal protection from the bill would only apply to pesticides that are registered with the Environmental Protection Agency, which RoundUp is.
Sen. Tony Bisignano, D-Des Moines, who voted against the bill, said the Legislature should not stand up for a company, but should stand up for Iowans.
“ I just want to leave the door open to all the farmers in this state,” Bisignano said. “Anybody who crosses these chemicals, those of us who live in an urban area and drink it … Just leave the door open so we can have justice if it’s necessary.”
Bisignano referenced a series of U.S. maps distributed to the subcommittee showing the rates of exposure to glyphosate by state and the rates of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer which some studies have linked to exposure to the chemical.
“ There is something there with this, and all I think that Iowans want is their opportunity,” Bisignano said. “They want their opportunity to seek redress when they’ve been harmed.”
Andrew Mertens, executive director for the Iowa Association for Justice, which registered against the bill, said the manufacturers have a “responsibility” for product safety.
“ What this bill does is it flips that responsibility on its head and it says that the minimum standard of safety, which is federal regulation, now becomes the ceiling,” Mertens said.
A lobbyist for Bayer, Brad Epperly, said the bill would not give the company “immunity” from lawsuits and that Iowans would still be able to sue on other grounds, such as negligence, warranties, or malfunctions. The bill, he said, would make it so “the label is the law.”
“We ask, simply support a very simple bill, which is merely addressing the labeling requirements,” Epperly said.
Proponents of the bill say it supports farmers by ensuring they have access to the chemicals and tools they need. This is the basis of a Bayer-sponsored campaign, under the Modern Ag Alliance coalition, which has billboards and ads urging Iowans to “control weeds, not farmers” by supporting the bill.
Lobbyists from agricultural groups, including Iowa Corn Growers Association, Iowa Soybean Association, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, declared and spoke in favor of the bill.
Dave Tierney spoke on behalf of the Iowa Soybean Association and said glyphosate is one of the “critical” tools farmers use, and it should be protected.
“Our state is a leading producer of many agricultural products here in the United States, with approximately 30 million acres of farm ground,” Tierney said. “To raise crops on our ground, farmers need tools.”
Tommy Hexter with Iowa Farmers Union read a statement from union member Seth Watkins, a farmer who described the experiences he has had and seen with farming families who have developed cancers and been burdened by its financial implications.
“This is the real impact of farm chemicals on farm income,” Hexter read from the letter. “So when I see this bill, I want to remind all of you that you can’t be both pro life and pro Senate Study Bill 1051.”
Richard Deming, the medical director at Mercy One Cancer Center in Des Moines, spoke on the relationship between pesticides and cancer rates. He said it took decades to gather conclusive evidence that cigarettes, which are known carcinogens today, were causing cancer.
“ What we’re dealing with in ag chemicals are hundreds of different chemicals causing dozens of different cancers, so it’s not unusual that we haven’t got this specific cause and effect,” Deming said. “But we do have considerable association.”
Sen. Tom Shipley and Bousselot signed off on the bill, with the latter offering a closing statement that the bill has some misunderstandings.
“ What it does say is it says, if you follow federal law, and you label it the right way, then you can’t sue for using the wrong label,” Bousselot said.
The bill introduced in 2024 passed the Senate in Iowa but did not become law. Similar bills were introduced last year in other states where Bayer has ties, Idaho and Missouri, but did not pass. A similar bill has been introduced this session in Missouri.
(Senators discuss Senate Study Bill 1051 that would protect pesticide companies from failure to warn lawsuits.) (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
