Bayer backs broadened effort to shield popular weedkiller from claims it
failed to warn of cancer
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[February 11, 2025]
By HANNAH FINGERHUT and DAVID A. LIEB
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A renewed and expanded effort from chemical
giant Bayer to shield itself from lawsuits that claim its popular
weedkiller Roundup causes cancer brought dozens of protesters to the
Iowa Capitol building Monday begging lawmakers to reject it.
The legislation, pending in Iowa and at least seven other states, would
protect pesticide companies from claims they failed to warn that their
product causes cancer if the product label otherwise complies with the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations.
Similar efforts failed during 2024 legislative sessions in Iowa,
Missouri and Idaho. But this year, Bayer and a coalition of agricultural
groups are doubling down. A broader media campaign is highlighting the
importance of glyphosate-based Roundup for American agriculture. And
they are getting help from a group that ran a Super Bowl ad in Missouri
asserting the legislation is necessary to combat Chinese influence over
the U.S. food supply.
Opponents, including those who rallied Monday in Des Moines, say the
bills would limit the rights of people to hold companies accountable if
their products cause harm. Speakers took turns telling stories of family
members throughout the state who have been diagnosed with cancers and
shouted out to lawmakers that Iowa's people are more important than
corporate profits.
“I feel like we need accountability here in Iowa,” said Nick Schutt, a
part-time farmer whose mother, father, aunt and two siblings have all
had cancer diagnoses. “At the end of the day, multinational chemical
companies like Bayer should be held accountable."
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Bayer disputes the claims that Roundup causes cancer, but the company
has been hit with about 177,000 lawsuits involving the weedkiller and
has set aside $16 billion to settle cases. It contends those legal costs
are “not sustainable” and is looking for relief from lawmakers concerned
about the possibility that Roundup could be pulled from the U.S. market.
For crops including corn, soybeans and cotton, Roundup is designed to
work with genetically modified seeds that resist the weedkiller’s deadly
effect. It allows farmers to produce more crops while conserving the
soil by tilling it less.
“It is the most important product in global agriculture,” Liza Lockwood,
Bayer's medical affairs lead in its crop science division, said during a
recent Missouri Senate committee hearing.
Some farmers have echoed that assertion. If lawsuits force Roundup off
the U.S. market, they contend that Chinese-made products may be the only
alternative.
“Losing access to this one safe and effective tool will set off a domino
effect that will threaten family farmers and our state’s economy,” Kevin
Ross, a farmer from southwest Iowa, said to Iowa lawmakers. Ross
detailed how, for 50 years, the American-made product has increased soil
quality, decreased water runoff and helped struggling farmers turn a
profit.
An expanded field for legislation
Last year, Bayer focused its lobbying efforts on Missouri, Iowa and
Idaho — home, respectively, to its North America crop science division,
a Roundup manufacturing facility and the phosphate mines from which its
key ingredient is derived. Though bills passed at least one chamber in
Iowa and Missouri, they ultimately failed in all three states.
This year, legislation providing legal protection against
failure-to-warn claims already has passed the North Dakota House without
any opposition. Similar bills have cleared initial committees in Iowa,
Mississippi and Missouri and are pending in legislative committees in
Florida, Oklahoma and Tennessee. A bill failed to get out of a Wyoming
committee by a deadline.
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Protesters congregate at the Iowa state capitol building in Des
Moines on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, to rally against a bill that would
protect pesticide companies from lawsuits that claim its popular
weedkiller causes cancer. (AP Photo/Hannah Fingerhut)
 Bayer officials said Monday that
legislative efforts also are in the works in Georgia, Idaho and the
U.S. Congress. A promotional campaign from the Modern Ag Alliance, a
coalition that Bayer supports, has targeted an even wider array of
states.
New to the cause this year is the Protecting America Initiative, an
organization concerned about China’s influence on the U.S. economy
and tied to Richard Grenell, President Donald Trump’s envoy for
special missions and former acting director of national
intelligence. The group ran a television ad Sunday in central
Missouri during the Super Bowl urging support for the legislation.
It said it has invested six figures to run the 30-second spot more
broadly across Missouri and Iowa.
It also parked a truck containing a portable billboard outside the
Iowa Capitol on Monday, encouraging support of the bill to stop
Chinese-made chemicals from “infiltrating American farms.”
Concerns about cancer and pesticides
Ads supporting legislation that could limit Bayer's legal liability
have emphasized the importance of its weed-control products to
agriculture.
"Farming’s hard,” one Facebook advertisement says. “But it’s a
little easier with glyphosate.”
That ad offended Kim Hagemann, a suburban Des Moines resident who
showed up to a crowded subcommittee meeting to share her opposition
with lawmakers.
“Bayer is right, farming’s hard, but dealing with cancer is even
harder,” said Hagemann, a member of one of the groups that organized
Monday's protest.
Though some studies associate Roundup's key ingredient glyphosate
with cancer, the EPA has said it is not likely to be carcinogenic to
humans when used as directed. Yet the numerous lawsuits against
Bayer allege glyphosate does cause a cancer called non-Hodgkin
lymphoma.
One of the many attorneys involved in the lawsuits against Bayer is
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee to serve as secretary of
Health and Human Services. Though the health agency oversees the
Food and Drug Administration, it does not control the EPA and its
labeling requirements.
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The legislation supported by Bayer would provide a defense against
failure-to-warn claims not only for Roundup but for other pesticide
products that follow EPA labeling guidelines.
Richard Deming, a cancer physician in Des Moines, said it often
takes decades to determine a cause-and-effect connection between
cancer and long-term exposure to low levels of chemicals. He said
public policy should focus on mitigating that risk, not providing
“immunity from responsibility.”
“I don’t think that ag chemicals causes as much cancer as cigarette
smoking," Deming told the AP after speaking to lawmakers. But
studies suggest "there’s clear association between ag chemical
exposure in the state of Iowa and cancer incidence.”
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Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri.
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