IA Alert - Urgent: Stop 'Bayer Protection Act' SSB 3183 [replaced SF 2392]

Hold Pesticide Manufacturers Accountable for Injury

Tell Iowa Senators to Vote NO on SSB 3188 (replaced SF 2392)

There is a hearing today (March 18th) on Senate Study Bill 3188 (SSB 3188) at 12:30 p.m. in the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee. SSB 3188 is a disastrous bill that would provide virtual immunity to pesticide manufacturers whose products have caused injury and illness. It’s critical that you call your Senator and ask them to oppose SSB 3188.

A few weeks ago the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) sent out an action alert when Senate File 2392 (SF 2392) was up for a vote of the full Senate but, thanks to the widespread opposition to the bill, there was never a timely vote on the measure. Now, however, SF 2392 supporters have re-introduced the same legislation as SSB 3188 in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Bills introduced in the appropriations committee are not subject to the same time constraints as bills in other committees; it looks like the bill will pass through appropriations, so the place to stop it again is when it is up for a vote in the full Senate. To give you an idea of these stealth tactics used to pass the bill, notice of the subcommittee hearing today was not issued until yesterday (Sunday afternoon); only 20 hours advance notice of a hearing is required.

SSB 3188 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 a ‘Bayer Protection Act’; as of 2022, Bayer had settled over 100,000 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.

Passage of SSB 3188 into law would make it almost impossible for there to be a successful personal injury lawsuit against a company that had an EPA-registered pesticide. Another chemical giant that stands to benefit from SSB 3188 is ChemChina formerly Sygenta, 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.

If the bill passes out of subcommittee, it will be given a new number. WAPF will provide the new bill number and updates as events warrant.

ACTION TO TAKE

Call and/or email your state Senator and ask that he or she vote NO on SSB 3188; calls are especially important. Below are Talking Points you can include. Comments opposing SSB 3188 can also be submitted online to the subcommittee at

https://www.legis.iowa.gov/committees/subcommitteePublicComments?meetingID=38783&action=viewCommitteePublicComments

To find your legislators, you may enter you address at the link. A list of senators is here.

For your convenience, you may copy/paste this block of email addresses to contact all Iowa State Senators:

kevin.alons@legis.iowa.gov; liz.bennett@legis.iowa.gov; tony.bisignano@legis.iowa.gov; nate.boulton@legis.iowa.gov; mike.bousselot@legis.iowa.gov; waylon.brown@legis.iowa.gov; claire.celsi@legis.iowa.gov; mark.costello@legis.iowa.gov; chris.cournoyer@legis.iowa.gov; dan.dawson@legis.iowa.gov; rocky.dewitt@legis.iowa.gov; adrian.dickey@legis.iowa.gov; molly.donahue@legis.iowa.gov; bill.dotzler@legis.iowa.gov; dawn.driscoll@legis.iowa.gov; jeff.edler@legis.iowa.gov; lynn.evans@legis.iowa.gov; julian.garrett@legis.iowa.gov; eric.giddens@legis.iowa.gov; jesse.green@legis.iowa.gov; kerry.gruenhagen@legis.iowa.gov; dennis.guth@legis.iowa.gov; pam.jochum@legis.iowa.gov; mike.klimesh@legis.iowa.gov; izaah.knox@legis.iowa.gov; carrie.koelker@legis.iowa.gov; tim.kraayenbrink@legis.iowa.gov; mark.lofgren@legis.iowa.gov; charlie.mcclintock@legis.iowa.gov; janet.petersen@legis.iowa.gov; herman.quirmbach@legis.iowa.gov; jeff.reichman@legis.iowa.gov; david.rowley@legis.iowa.gov; ken.rozenboom@legis.io wa.gov; sandy.salmon@legis.iowa.gov; jason.schultz@legis.iowa.gov; tom.shipley@legis.iowa.gov; amy.sinclair@legis.iowa.gov; annette.sweeney@legis.iowa.gov; jeff.taylor@legis.iowa.gov; todd.taylor@legis.iowa.gov; sarah.trone.garriott@legis.iowa.gov; zach.wahls@legis.iowa.gov; scott.webster@legis.iowa.gov; janice.weiner@legis.iowa.gov; cherielynn.westrich@legis.iowa.gov; jack.whitver@legis.iowa.gov; cindy.winckler@legis.iowa.gov; brad.zaun@legis.iowa.gov; dan.zumbach@legis.iowa.gov

TALKING POINTS

1. Iowa citizens should have the right to get compensation against pesticide manufacturers for injuries caused by their products. Passage of SSB 3188 would make it almost impossible to have a successful civil suit against a company that had an EPA-registered pesticide.

2. 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.

3. 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?

LINKS

SSB 3188 – https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=90&ba=SSB3188

submit comments to Senate Appropriations Subcommittee –

https://www.legis.iowa.gov/committees/subcommitteePublicComments?meetingID=38783&action=viewCommitteePublicComments

SF 2392 action alert – https://www.westonaprice.org/ia-alert-hold-pesticide-manufacturers-accountable-for-injury-vote-no-on-sf-2392/#gsc.tab=0

SF 2392 – https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=90&ba=SF2392

List of Senators – https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/senateFind Your Legislators – https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/find

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