(Radio Iowa) – It’s not yet clear if Republicans in the Iowa House will pass a bill to block lawsuits alleging Roundup causes cancer if the pesticide’s label follows federal guidelines. President Trump last week cited the Defense Production Act as he issued an executive order to ensure a steady supply of glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup. Pat Grassley, the speaker of the Iowa House, says he hasn’t assessed that order’s impact on Iowa.

“My understanding is the president wants to see these products made in America,” Grassley told reporters, “kind of something we’ve been talking about.” Both Grassley and House Republican Leader Bobby Kaufmann said before the 2026 legislative session started that Iowa farmers are better off having Roundup made here, since 70 percent of the Roundup sold in North America is made at a plant in Muscatine. Senate Republicans passed the Roundup protection bill last year and

Senator Majority Leader Mike Klimesh says he hopes the House G-O-P takes action this year. “Companies should not be held to a legal standard for something that they’re not allowed to put on the label by the EPA,” Klimesh said. Democrats in the legislature have opposed the bill. Representative Austin Baeth, a Democrat from Des Moines, is a doctor of internal medicine. “The optics of it are horrible for anybody to be in support of this bill when Iowa is in the midst of a cancer crisis,” Baeth said.

Georgia and North Dakota are the only states that have passed laws to protect Bayer from lawsuits alleging Roundup caused cancer. Last month the U-S Supreme Court agreed to hear Bayer’s appeal to block thousands of lawsuits alleging the weed killed caused cancer and other serious illnesses