As legal battles over glyphosate-based weedkillers continue, Bayer is backing legislation across multiple states to shield itself and other pesticide makers from failure-to-warn lawsuits.
Mary McCue Bell reports for Investigate Midwest.
In short:
- Bayer, facing more than 67,000 pending lawsuits over claims that its Roundup herbicide causes cancer, has launched lobbying efforts in at least 11 states to block additional warning label requirements for pesticides approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
- Legislation in states such as Missouri, North Dakota, and Georgia aims to bar legal claims tied to failure-to-warn arguments if products follow EPA guidance, a move critics say strips consumers of the right to sue over health risks.
- While Bayer argues these laws protect science-based regulation and agricultural access, environmental and public health advocates warn they could undermine transparency and accountability for chemical exposure risks.
Key quote:
“ ... if agrochemical companies are tired of class action lawsuits, then they should put a warning label on the product or change the ingredients so that it’s not harmful.”
— Melissa Vatterott, director of policy and strategy for the Missouri Coalition for the Environment
Why this matters:
Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the U.S., found in food crops, lawns, and waterways. Though the EPA maintains glyphosate is not a carcinogen, the World Health Organization’s cancer agency classifies it as “probably carcinogenic to humans,” and thousands of plaintiffs say it caused their non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Efforts to preempt state-level warning labels and liability claims shift power from courts to chemical companies, reducing legal pathways for those harmed by pesticides. These legislative moves are happening as scrutiny grows over corporate sway in public health regulation. The outcome could set a precedent for how toxic exposure is governed and who bears the risk — chemical producers or the public.
Related: Bayer steps up Iowa lobbying to shield pesticide suits, records show
