Last month, we asked you to take action urging the U.S. EPA to reject a petition submitted on January 21 from 11 State Attorneys General that would change pesticide labeling regulations to shield Bayer-Monsanto, and other pesticide manufacturers, from pesticide-harm lawsuits.
Bayer’s lobbying efforts don’t stop at the federal level. The corporation is puppeteering state politicians to do their bidding as well. We need you to take action again.
If you are a resident of any of the states below, please take action today. Click on the picture corresponding to your state. If you don’t live in any of these states, please spread the word and share far and wide!
Last year, four state legislatures – Iowa, Idaho, Missouri and Florida – introduced bills written by Bayer that would kill the Roundup/cancer lawsuits, now numbering over 170,000, that threaten to bury the company. Thanks to grassroots protest, none of the bills made it past the finish line.
Bayer vowed to restart and expand efforts this year and the company is moving fast. As of today, at least 20 state legislatures have drafted or introduced the Monsanto Protection Act bill, and Bayer has more support this time around.
The Monsanto Protection Act is furthest along in Iowa, where “Senate Study Bill 1051” was introduced on January 28 and passed a Senate subcommittee on February 5. Local groups opposing the bill are calling it the “Cancer Gag Act.” Whatever we all decide to call it, one thing is clear. We must stop this bill.
Iowa has the second-highest rate of new cancer cases in the U.S. and that rate is growing faster than any other state.
A July 2024 study published in the journal Frontiers in Cancer Control and Society concluded that “the impact of pesticide use on cancer incidence may rival that of smoking” and “counties with higher agricultural productivity, such as the leading corn-producing states of the Midwest, also have increased cancer risk due to pesticide exposure.” The study found the amount of pesticides used on farms was strongly associated with the incidence of many cancers – leukemia; non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; bladder, colon, lung, and pancreatic cancer – not only for farmers and their families, but for entire communities.
Yet, Iowa’s state politicians want to throw their farmers and residents under the bus to protect Bayer-Monsanto’s poison profits. Unconscionable.
Even conventional farmers see the danger ahead: “We’re very worried. Our farmers feel that if they have injuries or illnesses due to their use of a pesticide they should have access to the courts. We just don’t think the playing field should be tilted.” said Aaron Lehman, a corn and soybean farmer and president of the Iowa Farmers Union.
The Des Moines Register reported: Fourth-generation Iowa farmer Seth Watkins from Clarinda said farm chemicals caused life-threatening health risks for his twin daughters when they were born. One of his daughters did not survive. “In 2004, we did not have the data or the understanding of the impact chemicals like atrazine, glyphosate and nitrogen have on birth defects and cancer,” he said. “Today, we know that atrazine is a proven endocrine disruptor and a leading cause of abdominal wall birth defects.” He asked the lawmakers to reject the bill, adding that lawsuits over farm pesticides aren’t filed to make financial gains.
“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.”
The Monsanto Protection Act is at various stages in other state legislatures as well: Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Wyoming.
The Monsanto Protection Act has already passed the House in North Dakota, with no opposition. Thankfully, in Mississippi and Wyoming, the bills died in committee. But residents of these states should still take action to log their opposition to any future bills.
GMO/pesticide lobbying groups like CropLife America, American Farm Bureau Federation, and Iowa Farm Bureau Federation don’t care about the health of farmers or their communities. Only corporate profits. A group called Protecting America Initiative ran a television ad in central Missouri during Super Bowl Sunday urging support for the deceptive legislation. The group has been running the same ad more broadly across Missouri and in Iowa, reports Associated Press.
These groups and their allies have been claiming that the bills are not pesticide immunity bills. THEY ARE LYING. Help us stop all of the Monsanto Protection Act bills in every state. If you are a resident in any of the active states, take action today. If you have family and friends in any of these states, please share. We can’t give pesticide companies permission to poison!
List of states and bill numbers:
Florida HB129/S992
Georgia SB144
Idaho HB303
Iowa SB394
Mississippi HB1221 (Died In Committee on 02/04/2025)
Missouri HB544
Montana HB522
North Dakota HB1318
Oklahoma HB1755
Tennessee HB0809/SB0527
Wyoming HB0285 (Died in Committee on 03/03/2025)
Bayer-Monsanto may be throwing the kitchen sink at us. But we can beat them with People Power.
Your Voice matters,
The GMO/Toxin Free USA Team
P.S. Bayer has millions to spend on lobbying and advertising. But we don’t. The effort to fight the Monsanto Protection Act on many fronts is putting a strain on our resources. Please consider making a donation to help us win these battles. Thank you.
Stop poisoning our land and people’
I agree that we don’t need the government ruining our lives. Speaking of government, I don’t think there should even be an option to have “immunity” in any political situation. To me that’s just another BS way of saying no one can be held accountable. Well guess what? If congress isn’t going to hold the government accountable then we the people will fight not only for our rights but for a more “just and stable ” nation/world. Thank you for listening.
No corporation should be exempted from the harm it causes. Least of all Bayer-Monsanto the has harmed so many people with its’ toxic, carcinogenic product. Please do not pass any law that exempts Bayer-Monsanto from responsibility for its product. This would cause terrible harm to people who are already its’ victims and their families. It would also set a terrible precedent for other states. Wealthy corporations should not ever be allowed to avoid the consequences of the harm they cause.
It’s difficult to believe that companies manufacturing and using products that permanently harm people’s health are not being held responsible for their actions. If there is no way to stop the manufacture of their products, then they must be held responsible for the harm that their product causes. I cannot believe that our government is putting wealthy companies ahead of harm caused to humans by the products produced by these companies. Life is more important than profits, at least in my opinion.
Bayer-Monsanto the has harmed so many people with its’ toxic, carcinogenic product. This company must not be exempt from the harm caused by its products.
I have been seeing articles in major newspapers and on medical sites wondering why young people are getting devastating cancers in larger numbers than they used to. Male and females, but mostly young women. Seems pretty obvious to me that we live steeped in toxins both in our food and elsewhere. It wasn’t like this when I was growing up, but I think young people getting cancer more than before have lived in our toxic environment all their lives.
Nobody seems to want to admit it and toxin producing companies seem to be running the show. Wonder what planet they think they and their children and grandchildren live on? Planet money?