Urgent MO Alert - Stop Liability Shield for Pesticide Manufacturers (SB1439 - Senate floor)

Tell Your Tell Senators to Vote NO on SB 14

Stop Liability Shield for Pesticide Manufacturers

Senate Bill 14 (SB 14), disastrous legislation that would provide virtual immunity to pesticide manufacturers whose products have caused cancer, has passed out of committee and is up for a vote of the full Senate. It is crucial that you act now to stop SB 14; the vote could be taking place at any time.

The bill provides, in part, “Any pesticide registered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under the Federal Pesticide Rodenticide and Fungicide Act (FIRFA), a pesticide label approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, or consistent with the United States Environmental Protection Agency carcenogenicity classification of the pesticide under FIRFA, shall be sufficient to satisfy any requirement for a warning label regarding cancer under any other provision of current law.”

This legislation is essentially 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, and 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 proved 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 this legislation into law would make it almost impossible for there to be a successful personal injury suit by a cancer victim against a company that had an EPA-registered pesticide. If pesticide manufacturers aren’t held liable for the injuries they cause, healthcare costs for many of the affected will rise to unaffordable levels. House Bill 544 (HB 544) which has the same immunity provision passed out of the House and Senate Ag committee but has not yet been calendared for a vote.

ACTION TO TAKE

Call and/or email your state senator telling him or her to vote NO on SB 14. Calls are best. A phone list for the senators along with their staffer names is here. You may include any Talking Points in your message [see below].

To find your Senator, enter your address here. You’ll need your full nine-digit zip code when sending a message using your Senator’s contact page.

You can copy/paste this partial block of addresses to email 15 of the 34 Missouri State Senators (listed in alpha order):

Doug.Beck@senate.mo.gov; Mike.Bernskoetter@senate.mo.gov; Ben.Brown@senate.mo.gov; Justin.Brown@senate.mo.gov; Mike.Cierpiot@senate.mo.gov; Sandy.Crawford@senate.mo.gov; David.Gregory@senate.mo.gov; Lincoln.Hough@senate.mo.gov; tony.Luetkemeyer@senate.mo.gov; Karla.May@senate.mo.gov; Tracy.McCreery@senate.mo.gov; Angela.Mosley@senate.mo.gov;

Cindy.OLaughlin@senate.mo.gov; Steve.Roberts@senate.mo.gov; Brian.Williams@senate.mo.gov

TALKING POINTS

1. Missouri residents who have cancer caused by pesticide exposure should have a right to get compensation. Passage of SB 14 into law 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. Expenses for treating cancer can potentially bankrupt affected individuals. Why should companies like Bayer and ChemChina with deep pockets—each has over $100 billion in assets—not have to pay compensations for injuries their products have caused.

4. An EPA-approved label is not a guarantee of safety. SB 14 makes the approved label a complete shield against lawsuits by cancer victims related to the “duty to warn” even if the label is misleading, outdated or based on faulty data. The EPA does not independently test pesticides; it simply reviews data submitted by the manufacturer who profits from the product and controls what is submitted.

5. Lawsuits are necessary protections for the public. Labels can contain incorrect data, outdated risk information or vague or misleading instructions, or even deliberate omissions. State-level tort claims can be the only way to force corrections and protect public health.

WAPF will issue further action alerts on SB 14 as events warrant.

LINKS

SB 14 –

https://www.senate.mo.gov/25info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=312

SB 14 text as introduced –

https://www.senate.mo.gov/25info/pdf-bill/intro/SB14.pdf

Find your legislators –

https://www.senate.mo.gov/LegisLookup/Default

Phone list of State Senators with staffer names –

https://www.senate.mo.gov/webPDFs/Roster/CurrentRoster.pdf

Webpage List of State Senators with links to reach contact ports –

https://www.senate.mo.gov/Senators/Directory
House version HB 544 –