(Des Moines, Iowa) – A bill that would shield pesticide companies from label-related lawsuits, provided the company adhered to federal label regulations, advanced from the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday. According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, Senate Study Bill 1051 passed 11-7, with opposing senators arguing the bill protects companies rather than Iowans.  Sen. Mike Bousselot, who chaired the bill’s subcommittee, said the bill was a “common sense” piece of legislation.

“It is the simple premise that someone should not be allowed to sue someone else … for failing any duty to warn, when that manufacturer followed every federal rule and regulation required to warn,” Bousselot said. Similar legislation has cropped up in states across the country, and is pushed by the Modern Ag Alliance, a grouping of agriculture groups and Bayer, a biotech company and manufacturer of the common pesticide, RoundUp.

Iowans protest a Senate bill on Feb. 10, 2024, that would shield pesticide companies from certain lawsuits. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Bayer has spent more $10 billion on lawsuits, across the county, with plaintiffs claiming the product failed to warn them that the chemical glyphosate was a carcinogen. Bayer and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates pesticides, hold that glyphosate is not cancer causing.

The bill advances to the Senate floor. Sens. Bisignano, Quirmbach, Mark Lofgren, Janet Petersen, Jeff Taylor, Cherielynn Westrich and Janice Weiner voted no.