(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Senate has voted to shield farm chemical companies from lawsuits that allege the labels of products lack proper warnings about health risks. Bayer, the company that sells Roundup, faces thousands of lawsuits filed on behalf of farmers and others who’ve been diagnosed with cancer. Senator Mike Bousselot, a Republican from Ankeny, says Roundup’s label meets the legal requirements of the U-S government and other countries where it’s approved for use.

“No scientific agency in the world has concluded that glyphosate poses a carcinogenic risk,” Bousselot says. Senator Adrian Dickey, a Republican from Packwood, says this area of the law has become a playground for attorneys. “It’s about sue-happy attorneys and their latest attempt to make a lottery out of our legal system,” Dickey said. The bill passed on a 26-to-21 vote — the minimum number of yes votes required to clear the Senate.

Senator Molly Donahue, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, is among the critics who call the bill the cancer gag act. “This bill is a dangerous piece of legislation that places corporate interests above the health and rights of Iowans at a time when our state is grappling with rising cancer rates,” she said.

Similar legislation passed the Iowa Senate last year by a wider margin, but it didn’t come up for a vote in the House.