"In the state with the second-highest cancer rate in the nation, the legislation would have made it harder for residents to sue pesticide companies for illnesses linked to their products."
"DES MOINES, Iowa — Days before a key deadline for establishing legislative priorities, the Iowa Senate passed a bill that would make it impossible to bring “Failure to Warn” lawsuits against pesticide companies for cancer and other health issues caused by their products.
It’s the second year in a row that the Senate has advanced a bill granting legal protections to pesticide companies and the second time that the House has declined to take up the bill.
Senate Bill 394 squeaked through the majority Republican Senate in a divisive 26-21 vote at the end of March. However, Iowa’s “second funnel” deadline required that bills pass debate in one chamber and be taken up by a committee in the other chamber by Friday, April 4, in order to remain eligible for consideration. The day before this deadline, House Speaker Pat Grassley held a press conference and said, “At this point in time, there’s not support within the caucus for that bill.”
Introduced on behalf of the Modern Ag Alliance, an agrochemical lobbying group founded in 2024 by the agrochemical giant Bayer, the bill would have prevented lawsuits against pesticide companies on grounds that a product’s label did not adequately warn of health and safety risks, so long as the label was consistent with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s assessment of its active ingredients."
Anika Jane Beamer reports for Inside Climate News April 15, 2025.
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