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Tag: failure-to-warn

Published on Leave a comment on The Farm Bill and Pesticide Liability

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. ...continue reading "The Farm Bill and Pesticide Liability"

Published on Leave a comment on Pesticide Industry Doesn’t Want To Disclose Pesticide Harms Or Allow Lawsuits

The following news should concern everyone. So far 2 states (North Dakota and Georgia) have passed laws protecting pesticide companies from lawsuits, referred to as "immunity from litigation".

What this means is that if a harm is not on the pesticide label, then people can't sue about other not mentioned or hidden harms. This is even if the companies deliberately hid harms that occur to people using or exposed to the products - referred to as "failure to warn".

Yikes! What is on the pesticide labels (and registered with the EPA) typically are short-term harms from acute exposure (that is, short-term intense exposure), such as rashes, eye irritation, headaches. Potential long-term health harms from chronic or multiple exposures, such as cancer (e.g., non-Hodgkin's lymphoma), birth defects, fertility issues, neurological harms (e.g., Parkinson's disease) are generally not on the labels.

By the way, the harms that are listed on labels are what the pesticide companies themselves tell the EPA. The EPA does NOT conduct its own research. All of this is a strategy by pesticide companies to avoid having to pay out settlements. They want to deny victims (people harmed by pesticides) access to courts to hold corporations accountable for harms caused by their products.

What makes this legislation especially frightening is that "immunity from legislation" sets a dangerous precedent for claims against any manufacturers of products with toxic ingredients. With the passage of this legislation, do you think pesticide companies will feel any duty to reveal harms from their products? Hah!

This legislation is moving forward in a number of other states (e.g., North Carolina Iowa, Missouri). If it's in your state, do your best to oppose and stop legislation that will shield pesticide manufacturers from being sued by people who were harmed by their products. Ordinary people and consumer groups do NOT support this legislation. Of course not.

The following are several articles that discuss this issue, including opinions of farmers (they want to be able to sue manufacturers of pesticides, if harmed).

From Beyond Pesticides: Industry Effort to Quash Lawsuits for Failure to Disclose Hazards Defeated in 9 States, Eyes on North Carolina

Hub for status of failure-to-warn, from Beyond Pesticides: Failure-to-Warn and status details for each state: Failure-to-warn resources and bills

Article describing views of farmers injured by pesticides from Investigate Midwest: Pesticide manufacturers ask lawmakers for immunity from lawsuits by sick farmers 

Another article (from Feb. 2025) describing views of farmers: Farmers ‘very worried’ as US pesticide firms push to bar cancer diagnoses lawsuits