North Dakota became the first state to enact a law intended to shield pesticide manufacturers from state liability lawsuits, with the signing of a bill by Gov. Kelly Armstrong on Thursday.
Farm groups and Bayer praised enactment of HB 1318, which recognizes that a state pesticide label “consistent with” EPA’s carcinogenicity classification “is a sufficient warning label” for the purposes of litigation.
Bayer has paid more than $10 billion to settle lawsuits from plaintiffs claiming that exposure to Roundup caused their non-Hodgkin lymphoma and that the company failed to adequately warn them of the risks. EPA says glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, "is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans."
A statement issued by the company said “HB 1318 reinforces the integrity of the regulatory process, ensuring that the EPA’s rigorous and scientifically grounded conclusions are upheld. It also provides the regulatory clarity necessary for crop protection products and for the agricultural community to thrive.”
"The enactment of this legislation is the result of North Dakota’s lawmakers, commodity groups, and farmers coming together to support the agricultural industry, which along with related industries contribute more than $14 billion to the state’s economy," the statement said.
A Bayer-backed group that also includes dozens of state and national farm groups, the Modern Ag Alliance, has been pushing lawmakers in other states to pass similar legislation. In Georgia, one of those bills is awaiting Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature. Like Armstrong, Kemp is a Republican
“Enacting HB 1318 into law is a resounding win for farmers and all North Dakotans,” said Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, executive director of the Modern Ag Alliance. “Gov. Armstrong and the legislature have set a strong, bipartisan example for the country by preserving farmers’ access to essential crop protection tools that help keep farms competitive and grocery bills down.”
Bayer’s statement also said the company hopes "the courts will begin applying this legislation to provide the legal certainty regarding claims about the health and safety warning labels on crop protection products." Bayer still faces thousands of lawsuits in state and federal courts and has made noises about discontinuing its Roundup business because of the litigation.
The bills in North Dakota and other states have drawn protests from environmental groups and the national Make America Healthy Again movement. MAHA Action held a call with reporters recently to decry Bayer's efforts.
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"They are saying this is pro-farmer," MAHA Action CEO Del Bigtree said. "This is not pro-farmer. Our farmers are incredibly sick. Our farmers have Parkinson's to an enormous level."
Bigtree noted that the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a body of the World Health Organization, classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic" to humans in 2015.
"Does it seem smart to go ahead and start giving liability protection to one of the known toxins that the WHO has even said is toxic?" Bigtree asked.
Lawsuits against the company have consistently cited the IARC panel's finding, but Bayer has argued that no national regulatory body has come to the same conclusion.
Bayer recently filed a petition with the Supreme Court seeking review of a decision from state court in Missouri.
In it, the company says the question to be resolved is whether the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act "preempts a state-law failure-to warn claim where EPA has repeatedly concluded that the warning is not required and the warning cannot be added to a product without EPA approval."
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