1. United States
2. N.J.
3. Letter

I am a constituent writing to you today to express my concern with the growing efforts to enact legal liability shields for pesticide companies via legislation at both the state and federal levels. I urge you to support the bipartisan Pingree-Massie Protect Our Health Amendment, which would remove language seeking to grant pesticide companies legal immunity from the 2026 Farm Bill draft, and to veto any further liability shield language. Despite a growing body of peer-reviewed scientific evidence linking widely used pesticides to cancers, birth defects, endocrine disruption, Parkinson's disease, and infertility, pesticide manufacturers are conducting a coordinated campaign in state legislatures and Congress to obtain legal immunity from lawsuits brought by farmers, farmworkers, and other individuals seeking damages for injuries caused by their toxic pesticide products. If successful, these liability shields would leave injured parties without meaningful recourse. Chemical companies are seeking these protections because they know the harm their products have already caused, and are looking for a way to protect their profits. Syngenta, a subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned company ChemChina, reached a $187.5 million settlement in 2021 for paraquat-related Parkinson's disease claims. Monsanto, now owned by Germany's Bayer, has paid billions of dollars to settle lawsuits linking Roundup to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and other cancers. Opposing these measures is bipartisan and popular. Section 453 of the Interior appropriations bill was previously removed because it could have resulted in similar liability shields if enacted. Please continue to oppose any liability shield efforts or language in the 2026 Farm Bill. Americans whose health has been impacted by toxic pesticides must maintain the ability to seek legal recourse against companies that knowingly sell products that cause harm. Thank you for your consideration of this important and bipartisan issue. I look forward to your support in holding the pesticide industry accountable and protecting public health.