Editor’s Note: This Opinion is authored by Jonathan Oppenheimer, Alicia Vasto, and Melissa Vatterott. Jonathan Oppenheimer is the government relations director with the Idaho Conservation League. Alicia Vasto is the water program director with the Iowa Environmental Council. Melissa Vatterott is the policy director with the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. This piece has been published in outlets across the country, including the Des Moines Register, Idaho Capital Sun, Iowa Capital Dispatch, and more.
Heartland legislatures prove skeptical of industrial ag’s efforts to dodge accountability
Bayer and others should stop erecting legal roadblocks and instead learn from failed efforts of the tobacco and asbestos industries and ditch efforts to avoid accountability.
After the final gavels fell in the legislatures in Idaho, Iowa and Missouri, Big Ag’s corporate lobbyists may be stinging from a hard lesson: that accountability still matters.
Agricultural interests carry enormous political sway in Boise, Des Moines and Jefferson City. That’s why these states were a testing ground for pesticide manufacturers’ efforts to shield themselves from corporate liability. Bayer launched a campaign in each state to push legislation exempting them from lawsuits alleging cancer and other harms.
Bayer leaders thought they were in for a slam dunk on a home court. The company mines phosphate in Idaho before shipping it to Iowa, where Roundup is manufactured. Bayer’s pesticide division is headquartered in Missouri.
Ag is king in Iowa, where nearly 70% of the land is planted in corn and soybeans, crops that generally require dosing with Roundup and similar pesticides. In Missouri, some 5.5 million acres are planted in crops that are treated with glyphosate-based pesticides. Idaho is of course famous for its potatoes.
Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, has paid over $11 billion in settlements and jury awards based on potential cancer risks associated with the product.
The company has obvious incentive to enlist politicians to stop the bleeding.
In Iowa, the pesticide bill passed the Senate, but never came up for a vote in the House. A similar scenario played out in Missouri, where it passed the House, but never arose in the Senate. In Idaho, the first version of the bill was defeated by three votes on the Senate floor. Later versions never came up for a hearing.
In Idaho, Democrats opposed weakening legal access for farmworkers, farmers, and rural families who can all be impacted by dangerous pesticides. They were joined by conservative Republicans who took issue with special deals for corporate interests, especially immunity for state-owned ChemChina who’s fighting claims that paraquat, a pesticide banned in 60-plus countries (including China), causes Parkinson’s.
Opposition came from both sides of the aisle in Iowa as well, where skyrocketing cancer rates were enough to sink the bill.
In Missouri, Democrats were joined by right-leaning senators who promised a filibuster if the bill advanced for a vote.
Flummoxed at the state level, Bayer now turns toward Congress. Legal immunity was included as part of the House Republicans’ draft farm bill. It’s unclear how the bipartisan alliances fostered in the states will translate in Congress, but we’re hopeful the coalition will hold.
Moving forward, Bayer and others should stop erecting legal roadblocks and instead learn from failed efforts of the tobacco and asbestos industries and ditch efforts to avoid accountability. Instead, focus on rebuilding trust with farmers, farmworkers, and public health advocates, and either relabel or reformulate products to ensure they safeguard our air, water, and families.
And finally, live up to their prior promises to oppose any efforts to “erect barriers to prevent legitimate cases from being brought before the courts.”
If they don’t, the public can only assume those promises are hollow.
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Take Action – Sign the Pesticide Petition!
This is not the last time we will have to fight this issue. Despite their failure, sponsors of the bill have indicated it will be introduced next year. Speak up for public health and the rights of Idahoans by taking action today – let Idaho legislators and Governor Brad Little know that you want to see public health and legal rights protected, and that pesticide manufacturer’s don’t deserve a free pass. Sign the pesticide petition by clicking the button below!
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