Tennessee lawmakers are advancing a bill that would shield pesticide manufacturers from some liability lawsuits, even as critics point to past industry efforts to suppress health risk data.
Caroline Eggers reports for WPLN News.
In short:
- A Tennessee bill would protect pesticide manufacturers like Bayer from “failure-to-warn” lawsuits if their product labels are approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, unless companies are proven to have hidden health risk information.
- Bayer’s Monsanto faces over 300 lawsuits in Tennessee alone over health problems allegedly caused by Roundup, its glyphosate-based pesticide, which courts have linked to cancer in several cases.
- Critics say the bill gives legal cover to companies that have previously influenced or manipulated scientific research to avoid regulatory scrutiny.
Key quote:
“This bill takes away your rights when the pesticide label is a lie and it makes you sick or destroys your fields. Bayer knows this. They are betting that you don’t.”
— Tiffany Carpenter, attorney in West Tennessee
Why this matters:
Glyphosate, once hailed as a miracle weedkiller, has become a flashpoint in the battle between public health and corporate influence. Though marketed as safe when used as directed, the chemical has turned up in everything from rainwater to breast milk, sparking alarm among scientists and watchdog groups. Its most controversial legacy may lie not just in links to non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other illnesses, but in the way its manufacturer, Monsanto — now part of Bayer — allegedly manipulated science and policy. Now, as a fresh wave of state-level bills seeks to limit lawsuits related to pesticide exposure, critics argue these efforts amount to a shield for industry, undermining the legal rights of workers, families, and communities most affected.
Related: Op-ed: If Bayer really wanted to stand with farmers, it would stop selling them toxics
