Reposted from Toxin Free USA:
The Bayer-Monsanto Protection Act on Steroids is Rolling Out Across the Country. Is Your State Passing the Legislation?
What happens when agrichemical companies are sued en masse by people who have been harmed by exposure to their toxic pesticides? Big Ag lobbyists buddy up with politicians to try to pass bills that give the corporate poison pushers immunity.
Bayer-Monsanto has been hardest hit by pesticide litigation. Roundup lawsuits, which have been in the news for the last several years, are a huge financial drain. Approximately 167,000 lawsuits have been filed by people who claim they developed cancer, primarily non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, from their exposure to Roundup. The litigation has cost the company billions of dollars and its shares have plummeted, with a market capitalization now at less than half of what it paid to acquire Monsanto. And it’s not over by a long shot.
Bayer’s latest strategy is topass laws, state by state, that take away farmers’ and other individuals’ ability to sue if they get sick.If passed, the bills would protect Bayer (and others) against claims it “failed to warn” people about the potential health harms of Roundup, or any other pesticide produced, as long as the product is labeled in accordance with EPA regulations. This means that Bayer’s cancer victims would no longer be given their day in court and no future lawsuits would be allowed.
But EPA rubber stamps pesticide approvals like there’s no tomorrow. The revolving door between industry and government agencies swings wide and often, and corruption at the EPA is well documented. Pesticide regulations and product label requirements are not protective of human or environmental health.
Bayer’s lobbying efforts have borne fruit in Iowa, Idaho, Missouri and Florida, with the introduction of immunity bills written by industry attorneys and pushed in state legislatures by bought and paid for politicians.
Iowa is the state closest to passing The Monsanto Protection Act. The Iowa Senate passed bill SF 2412 on April 2. The Iowa House version, HSB 737 is currently moving through committees.
The Missouri Senate bill SB 1416 passed out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on March 12. House bill HB 2673 moved forward in an oral vote on April 17. It will soon be brought to the House floor for a formal vote.
Idaho Senate bill SB 1432 was introduced on March 20 but failed to move forward. The bill is dead for this legislative year.
Florida bill CS/HB 347 died on the calendar on March 8.
If you live in one of these states, it’s not over. Action is needed. Bayer-Monsanto won’t give up and the company is bold enough to say so.
These dirty pesticide industry tricks are not limited to state-level bills.
Big Ag lobbying group, CropLife America, is using its political influence in Washington D.C. to ramp up its campaign to get language into the upcoming Farm Bill that would prohibit states from putting their own warning labels on pesticides, in addition to those required by the EPA.
Pending U.S. House and Senate bills include the Agricultural Labeling Uniformity Act (H.R. 4288), and the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression Act (EATS Act H.R. 4417/S. 2019). There are rumblings about efforts to sneak the bills into the Farm Bill or other major legislation. Other efforts have been underway to pre-empt additional pesticide regulations like restrictions and bans at the state level.
We’ve seen it all before. In the spring of 2013, Monsanto’s minions worked hard to pass the first Monsanto Protection Act, which would have allowed Monsanto and others to sell genetically modified seeds even when courts have blocked them from doing so.
The bill became law. But a groundswell of people across the U.S. contacted their Congresspeople, including many of you! By the fall of 2013, we succeeded in getting the Monsanto Protection Act repealed. People Power can and does work.
We all need to step up again to make sure these new Monsanto Protection Acts on steroids don’t see the light of day. Make your voice heard!
Iowa residents, take action HERE.
Missouri residents, take action HERE.
Idaho residents, take action HERE.
Florida residents, take action HERE.
Everyone in the U.S., take action HERE.
