Well THAT escalated quickly.
Pesticide manufacturers are 2 days away from securing a full FEDERAL "liability shield" that will prevent victims from EVERY state from suing for KNOWN harms caused by their products.
I have, admittedly, not been able to tackle this issue as it has been creeping slowly across the country — and, to be honest, I could not see anything like this passing — but boy was I wrong (naive, tired, and in denial):
Last week Bayer and a coalition of agricultural organizations snuck into a federal appropriations bill nine lines that will forever change the way we read and understand chemical labels, and sue for injuries we suffer from using them.
While laws have been introduced in at least 8 states so far and drafts are circulating in more than 20 others, these efforts have been slow and for the most part unsuccessful. Which is why Bayer et al. took their sneak attack to the federal level.
On July 15, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies approved a bill with Section 453, which will make it more difficult for (1) states to regulate pesticides and (2) people harmed by agrochemicals to sue the companies that make them.
How?
If passed, Section 453 will restrict the ability of pesticide companies to update warning labels on their products — even when evidence shows risks — unless the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) undertakes a new full review of the chemical under Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), or makes a new carcinogenicity classification of it. Either of these options will take years, leaving millions of unaware Americans potential victims of their known risks.
Section 453 will also limit state or independent authorities from mandating warnings — like California did with Proposition 65 — and centralize that power, instead, with the EPA, even if the EPA is slow to act, or overlooks emerging science. This suggests that the federal government wants to prevent states from requiring stricter labels than those approved by the EPA.
BOTTOM LINE: Section 453 transforms EPA registration into legal immunity, gutting both federal enforcement authority and state-level accountability mechanisms, creating a regulatory dead zone where companies cannot be held liable, even when they knowingly conceal health risks.
This immunity will apply to the entire pesticide industry — including Chinese Military Company, ChemChina, Syngenta, in addition to Bayer who, as you know, was formerly Monsanto. You know, this Monsanto and this one — and over 57,000 products currently on the market.
“Kill the lawsuits.”
Over the last decade, thousands of lawsuits filed against Bayer for injuries caused by glyphosate and similar lawsuits against other pesticide makers have alleged that the manufacturer failed to warn plaintiffs of health risks associated with their products. These “failure to warn” claims are based on state tort law and allege that these companies “knew or should have known” about the risks and failed to warn consumers about them.
Bayer has countered that the EPA rules trump state rules and, because the company’s labels meet the requirements of the EPA, which does not classify glyphosate as a carcinogen or require other warning labels, the failure to warn lawsuits are losers.
Almost every court has ruled against Bayer et al., forcing Bayer to pay more than $10 billion to settle Roundup weedkiller lawsuits. (The U.S. Supreme Court has thus far declined to hear Bayer’s appeals, although it is considering one now.) Center for Food Safety Policy Director Jaydee Hanson told The Defender that Section 453 is intended to “kill the lawsuits.”
Experts expect that a similar provision will be included in the new “Farm Bill.”
At least 12 and as many as 21 states are proposing industry-drafted bills to grant agrochemical companies immunity from liability for harms from their products if those products are licensed by the EPA, according to Moms Across America. So far, Georgia and North Dakota have passed liability shield laws that declare the EPA has oversight of pesticide labeling and that state laws can’t hold the companies liable for failing to warn about anything not required by the EPA.
Not to be outdone — and to ensure any of our pending lawsuits succeed — the EPA announced in January that it is simultaneously advancing a proposal to block states from requiring warning labels on pesticides, herbicides, and other commonly used agricultural products.
WHAT TO DO NOW:
Your warriors, here, at FACTS LAW TRUTH JUSTICE, along with Dr. Alexandra Munoz, Center for Food Safety, Beyond Pesticides, Stand for Health Freedom, Moms Across America, Children’s Health Defense, the National Agricultural Law Center, and more are seeking to have Section 453 removed from the appropriations bill before it goes before the full committee Tuesday, July 22, at 7:30 a.m. EST / 10:30 a.m.
If you want to watch: https://appropriations.house.gov/schedule/markups/full-committee-markup-fiscal-year-2026-interior-environment-and-related-agencies-0
Email the Appropriations Committee Members TODAY, Monday July 21. It does not matter if you are a constituent. These legislators are passing a bill in their committee that will affect every American. Tell them, “Section 453, 457 and 507 must be completely removed from the Appropriations bill. These block important updates for labels that will negatively impact our health and fertility, make it impossible to hold multibillion dollar companies responsible for knowns harms they cause us, block new information on a widely used chemicals and medical procedures (457), and cripples the EPA’S ability to protect us from “forever chemicals” in sewage sludge (507). These cannot be amended and must be struck from the bill.”
BCC all of the Members with your message:
megan.medley@mail.house.gov, madelyn.derks@mail.house.gov, monika.konrad@mail.house.gov, rob.sar@mail.house.gov, jack.lincoln@mail.house.gov, sam.garrison@mail.house.gov, gabrielle.sheitelman@mail.house.gov, nicole.manley@mail.house.gov, dmd@mail.house.gov, chase.starr@mail.house.gov, sofia.deiro@mail.house.gov, gisselle.reynolds@mail.house.gov, ashley.teague@mail.house.gov, owen.dankworth@mail.house.gov, ian.merritt@mail.house.gov, lindsey.mosley@mail.house.gov, kellie.chong@mail.house.gov, milton.robinson@mail.house.gov, travis.trejo@mail.house.gov, nick.bowser@mail.house.gov, matthew.stubeck@mail.house.gov, mary@mail.house.gov, lindsay.linhares@mail.house.gov, james.leavitt@mail.house.gov, edward.kim@mail.house.gov, ryan.rasins@mail.house.gov, chris.macarthur@mail.house.gov, chandler.smith@mail.house.gov, william.reynolds@mail.house.gov, katie.heffernan@mail.house.gov, nick.dilorenzo@mail.house.gov, jack.harrigan@mail.house.gov, kellie.hartl@mail.house.gov, nicholas.runkel@mail.house.gov, ben.vansickle1@mail.house.gov
Call the Appropriations Committee Members TODAY, Monday, July 21:
Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL-4)
(202) 225-4876
Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO-4)
(202) 225-2876
Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV-2)
(202) 225-6155
Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK-5)
(202) 225-2132
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA-41)
(202) 225-1986
Rep. John Carter (R-TX-31)
(202) 225-3864
Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ-6)
(202) 225-2542
Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA-6)
(202) 225-5431
Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX-27)
(202) 225-7742
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA-9)
(202) 225-9893
Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK-4)
(202) 225-6165
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL-26)
(202) 225-4211
Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC-11)
(202) 225-6401
Rep. Jake Ellzey (R-TX-6)
(202) 225-2002
Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN-3)
(202) 225-3271
Rep. Scott Franklin (R-FL-18)
(202) 225-1252
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX-23)
(202) 225-4511
Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS-3)
(202) 225-5031
Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD-1)
(202) 225-5311
Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA-2)
(202) 225-2911
Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH-14)
(202) 225-5731
Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY-1)
(202) 225-3826
Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA-5)
(202) 225-8490
Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-UT-2)
(202) 225-9730
Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI-2)
(202) 225-3561
Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV-2)
(202) 225-2711
Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA-4)
(202) 225-5816
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA-14)
(202) 225-2065
Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY-5)
(202) 225-4601
Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL-5)
(202) 225-2501
Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID-2)
(202) 225-5531
Rep. Dale Strong (R-AL-5)
(202) 225-4801
Rep. David Valadao (R-CA-22)
(202) 225-4695
Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR-3)
(202) 225-4301
Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT-1)
(202) 225-5628
If you are a constituent of one of the Committee Members, use SFHF’s one-click campaign.
Email the House MAHA caucus staffers to tell them that if they really are “MAHA” they will publicly support the amendment in the appropriations committee to remove this provision:
will.tucker@mail.house.gov, nate.zimpher@mail.house.gov, rob.sar@mail.house.gov, chase.babair@mail.house.gov, susan.falconer@mail.house.gov, matt.tucker@mail.house.gov, will.smith@mail.house.gov, nick.adams@mail.house.gov, bubba.white@mail.house.gov, juliana.dauchess@mail.house.gov, allie.esau@mail.house.gov, james.schroeder@mail.house.gov, jack.ganter@mail.house.gov, quinn.ritchie@mail.house.gov
Contact the EPA using the Center for Food Safety’s one-click campaign.