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Posted on Big Ag Wants the Same Immunity As Vaccine Companies by · February 05, 2025 12:01 PM · 1 reaction

Tell Subcommittee to Vote NO on SSB 1051

Hold Pesticide Manufacturers Accountable for Injury

We stopped Senate File 2392 last year, but the Senate Judiciary Committee has reintroduced it as Senate Study Bill SSB 1051 (SSB 1051); the Judiciary Subcommittee hearing is 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 5th. It must be stopped.

SSB 1051 is a disastrous bill that would provide virtual immunity to pesticide manufacturers whose products have caused injury and illness, has passed out of committee and will soon be up for a vote of the full Senate. SSB 1051 provides, in part, that “for any pesticide registered with the United States Environmental Protection Agency…, the label approved by the United States, environmental protection agency in registering the pesticide, or a label consistent with the most recent human health assessment performed under the federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, or a label consistent with the United States environmental protection agency classification for the pesticide…shall be sufficient to satisfy any requirement for a warning regarding health or safety….”

The bill is the ‘Bayer Protection Act’; as of 2022, Bayer had settled over 1,000 lawsuits and paid around $11 billion in damages from glyphosate-based products such as Roundup; as of that time, there are 30,000 pending lawsuits against Bayer. There are many studies showing glyphosate does cause certain types of cancer. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as a probable carcinogen; EPA has not made a similar finding. Bayer purchased Monsanto in 2018, and evidence in the court cases against Bayer prove that Monsanto employees and EPA officials colluded to distort the truth that glyphosate does cause cancer. The overwhelming majority of successful pesticide injury lawsuits are won under “failure to warn” claims such as the failure to warn of a product causing cancer. With the collusion between the pesticide industry and EPA, the EPA-approved labels on products, such as Roundup, don’t come close to accurately describing the health risks those products present.

The passage of SSB 1051 into law would make it almost impossible to have a successful personal injury lawsuit against a company with an EPA-registered pesticide. Another chemical giant that stands to benefit from SSB 1051 is ChemChina formerly Syngenta, the manufacturer of the herbicide Paraquat; there are thousands with Parkinson’s disease involved in litigation over Paraquat being the cause of their illness, with the number of litigants steadily growing.

HISTORY: This bill was introduced in 2024 by the Senate Agriculture Committee as SSB 3163 [became SF 2392] and by the House Agriculture Committee as HSB 646. Neither bill reached a floor vote in either chamber.

ACTION TO TAKE

Register your opposition to SSB 1051 for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee before the 1:30 p.m. Wednesday hearing [Feb. 5th] by tapping "Add Comments" at https://www.legis.iowa.gov/committees/meetingPublicComment?meetingID=39518&action=viewCommitteePublicComments

Members of the subcommittee on SSB 1051 are: Sen. Bousselot (Chair), Sen. Bisignano, and Sen. Shipley. Note: Sen. Bisignano opposed SF 2392 in 2024 [see Ag Cmte vote]

Call and/or email members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and ask them to vote NO on SSB 1051; calls are important, especially if you are a member's constituent. Below is a contact list for the committee. To find your legislators, you may enter your address at this link.

You may also use any of the Talking Points below in your message. Here is a block of email addresses you can copy/paste to reach all committee members:

[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

TALKING POINTS

Iowa citizens should have the right to get compensation against pesticide manufacturers for injuries caused by their products. Passage of SSB 1051 would make it almost impossible to have a successful civil suit against a company with an EPA-registered pesticide.
Products containing glyphosate do not have a warning about cancer despite many studies concluding that glyphosate is a carcinogen—an example of why reliance on EPA-approved labels provides inadequate protection.
Costs for injuries or illness caused by pesticide exposure can last a lifetime, potentially bankrupting affected individuals; why should companies like Bayer and ChemChina with deep pockets (each has over $100 billion in assets) not have to pay compensation for injuries their products have caused?

COMMITTEE CONTACTS

If you are a constituent of any Senate Judiciary Committee members, a call from you would be more effective than an email. SSB 1051 subcommittee members are included below [Sen. Bousselot (Chair), Sen. Bisignano, and Sen. Shipley].

Jason Schultz (R, District 6), Chair
[email protected]
515.281.3371

Julian B. Garrett (R, District 11), Vice Chair
[email protected]
515.281.3371

Matt Blake (D, District 22), Ranking Member
[email protected]
515.281.3371

Tony Bisignano (D, District 15)
[email protected]
515.281.3371

Mike Bousselot (R, District 21)
[email protected]
515.281.3371

Dan Dawson (R, District 10)
[email protected]
515.281.3371

Adrian Dickey (R, District 44)
[email protected]
515.281.3371

Lynn Evans (R, District 3)
[email protected]
515.281.3371

Jesse Green (R, District 24)
[email protected]
515.281.3371

Izaah Knox (D, District 17)
[email protected]
515.281.3371

Mark S. Lofgren (R, District 48)
[email protected]
515.281.3371

Janet Petersen (D, District 18)
[email protected]
515.281.3371