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