There was a huge blow to anyone concerned with hidden (by pesticide manufacturers) health effects of pesticides this week. Senate Republican members of the Senate Farm Appropriations Committee voted down an amendment to the Senate farm bill that would have enabled lawsuits against pesticide manufacturers when pesticide health effects and harms are revealed.
The amendment, which was proposed by Senator Booker, also stated that if a product causes cancer, it should be on the pesticide label.
The only good news is that the farm bill did not advance out of committee this week. But it will reconsider the farm bill in September. If the farm bill passes as it is written, only what is on pesticide labels can be acknowledged - and it generally just talks about immediate acute effects, such as skin irritation.
Cancer, neurological harms, effects on the fetus, long-term harms, etc. are typically not on pesticide labels, even if pesticide companies know of harmful health effects (hiding harmful effects is called "failure to warn"). Basically, not allowing consumers to sue pesticide companies is a screw you to Americans.
And yes, the voting was along party lines - Republicans don't want us to be able to sue if health harms are found, while Democrats voted to preserve the right to sue.
From The Hill: Republicans vote down farm bill amendment enabling lawsuits against pesticide companies, a blow to MAHA
Senate Republicans on Thursday voted down an amendment that sought to open up Americans’ ability to sue pesticide companies over the health impacts of their products.
The amendment to the Senate farm bill failed in a party-line vote.
While the measure was backed by all of the Senate Agriculture Committee’s Democrats and none of its Republicans, it’s also a blow to pesticide critics in the right-wing “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement.
It’s something that MAHA-aligned GOP members of the House are also pushing for.
The amendment, brought by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), would have clarified that pesticide labeling requirements in the nation’s pesticide law do not block a person’s ability to sue a chemical company over failure-to-warn of additional health impacts.
It also would have authorized pesticide companies to list cancer warnings on their labels.
“It restores the fundamental right of cancer victims to have their day in court,” Booker said of his amendment during the markup.
“Although Republicans blocked the amendment today, I will continue to push for these protections as the Farm Bill moves forward to ensure pesticide companies cannot hide behind liability shields. This Administration may be abandoning its promise to make America healthy again, but I will continue to fight,” Booker said in a statement to The Hill.
The push comes after the Supreme Court recently ruled that language in the nation’s pesticide law requires companies to only list health impacts formally recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The high court therefore blocked state-level lawsuits alleging that companies failed to warn of health impacts not required to be listed by the EPA.
While the ruling applies to all pesticides, it came amid a case involving Monsanto, which uses glyphosate in its Roundup weedkiller. The EPA says that lawful uses of glyphosate do not pose a risk to human health, but thousands of lawsuits have alleged a cancer link.