Bayer, a big chemical company, has asked lawmakers to pass laws that would shield it from cases that say their RoundUp weed killer gives people cancer.
Some states have been asked by the company to pass this bill. They have used language from bills that were passed in Iowa, Missouri, and Idaho to support their case. In essence, the bill would say that companies couldn’t be sued if they didn’t say that their product causes cancer as long as their labels followed the rules set by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
But lawyers have pushed back, saying that the law could have bigger effects, like applying it to any product that could be a liability or protecting big companies from all kinds of cases. This is what has happened since Iowa passed the bill.
A lawyer in Missouri named Matt Clement said, “It’s not good government to protect a company for things they’re not telling their customers.” “If they’re successful in getting this passed in Missouri, I think they’ll try to do this all over the country,” he said.
Over 160 thousand lawsuits have been filed against the company saying that their weed killer RoundUp causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. As a result, they have been able to fight some claims, but they have also lost a lot of money, over ten billion dollars. Since there are still a lot of claims and cases that need to be settled, the company is still worried about these charges.
Bayer said that they are putting all of their efforts into making sure that people know what the real risks are. However, experts say that the product is not likely to cause cancer if it is used as directed. Weed killers are an important part of farming, and farmers in many places use them on crops all the time.
This bill is still being pushed by Bayer, but we won’t know what happens until it is either passed or turned down by lawmakers.
