Protect MO Farmers & Ag Workers: Say No to Bills Shielding Roundup Manufacturers

I urge you to oppose HB 2763 (Diehl) and SB 1416 (Justin Brown), which seek to bar users of certain agricultural chemicals from bringing duty to warn claims against agricultural manufacturers should the users become harmed. Specifically, these bills seek to protect agricultural manufacturers from lawsuits for harm caused by exposure to their chemical products governed by EPA and/or the federal Fungicide, Insecticide and Rodenticide Act. Corporations that by the very nature of their business deal in dangerous products are susceptible to litigation when their products are not sufficiently labeled warning the user of the health risks. Those who would bring claims against agriculture manufacturers have usually been farmers and pesticide applicators who were exposed to these chemicals and later diagnosed with diseases such as Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and other cancers. There have been several cases filed against Bayer/Monsanto involving glyphosate and in many cases the harmed parties have received large jury awards and settlements to compensate them for their health harms. Agriculture chemical manufacturers are upset by all the lawsuits facing them and in retaliation, they have chosen to lead a nationwide effort to shield themselves from liability for harms caused. Missouri is only one of several states where this exact language has been filed. Does Missouri really want to be a state that says, “We care more about the corporations that sell products in our state than the people who live here?” I would hope not. Although sponsors of these bills claim that the pesticide label from EPA is a sufficient warning, users have been misled by advertising touting the products’ safety. The overwhelming majority of successful cases for pesticide injury lawsuits fall under “failure-to-warn" claims. We should not be taking away this important tool that our legal system provides to citizens harmed by using a product. If you support these bills, you are making the statement that you are comfortable with rendering victims without effective legal recourse and releasing industry actors such as Bayer from billions of dollars in ongoing and future settlements. As of 2022, Bayer settled over 1,000 lawsuits paying out approximately $11 billion and faces an additional 30,000 lawsuits pending. While I understand that companies like Bayer may be overwhelmed by the number of lawsuits they have settled and are still in, this is the cost of doing business when you manufacture a product that is inherently harmful and fail to provide adequate warning to the users so that they can make an informed decision about whether to use your product. The farmers and chemical applicators in our state should not be stripped of their legal right to sue for failure to warn. For these reasons, you must stand against HB 2763 and SB 1416.