STOP SB 144

Last year, four state legislatures – Iowa, Idaho, Missouri and Florida – introduced bills written by Bayer that would kill the Roundup/cancer lawsuits, now numbering over 170,000, that threaten to bury the company. Thanks to grassroots protest, none of the bills made it past the finish line.

Bayer vowed to restart and expand efforts this year and the company is moving fast. As of today, at least 20 state legislatures have drafted or introduced the Monsanto Protection Act bill, and Bayer has more support this time around.

The Monsanto Protection Act is furthest along in Iowa, where “Senate Study Bill 1051” was introduced on January 28 and passed a Senate subcommittee on February 5. Local groups opposing the bill are calling it the “Cancer Gag Act.” Whatever we all decide to call it, one thing is clear. We must stop this bill.

Iowa has the second-highest rate of new cancer cases in the U.S. and that rate is growing faster than any other state.

A July 2024 study published in the journal Frontiers in Cancer Control and Society concluded that “the impact of pesticide use on cancer incidence may rival that of smoking” and “counties with higher agricultural productivity, such as the leading corn-producing states of the Midwest, also have increased cancer risk due to pesticide exposure.” The study found the amount of pesticides used on farms was strongly associated with the incidence of many cancers – leukemia; non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; bladder, colon, lung, and pancreatic cancer – not only for farmers and their families, but for entire communities.

Yet, Iowa’s state politicians want to throw their farmers and residents under the bus to protect Bayer-Monsanto’s poison profits. Unconscionable.

Even conventional farmers see the danger ahead: “We’re very worried. Our farmers feel that if they have injuries or illnesses due to their use of a pesticide they should have access to the courts. We just don’t think the playing field should be tilted.” said Aaron Lehman, a corn and soybean farmer and president of the Iowa Farmers Union.

The Des Moines Register reported: Fourth-generation Iowa farmer Seth Watkins from Clarinda said farm chemicals caused life-threatening health risks for his twin daughters when they were born. One of his daughters did not survive. “In 2004, we did not have the data or the understanding of the impact chemicals like atrazine, glyphosate and nitrogen have on birth defects and cancer,” he said. “Today, we know that atrazine is a proven endocrine disruptor and a leading cause of abdominal wall birth defects.” He asked the lawmakers to reject the bill, adding that lawsuits over farm pesticides aren’t filed to make financial gains.

“I feel like we need accountability here in Iowa,” said Nick Schutt, a part-time farmer whose mother, father, aunt and two siblings have all had cancer diagnoses. “At the end of the day, multinational chemical companies like Bayer should be held accountable.”

The Monsanto Protection Act is at various stages in other state legislatures as well: Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Wyoming.

The Monsanto Protection Act has already passed the House in North Dakota, with no opposition. Thankfully, in Mississippi and Wyoming, the bills died in committee. But residents of these states should still take action to log their opposition to any future bills.

GMO/pesticide lobbying groups like CropLife America, American Farm Bureau Federation, and Iowa Farm Bureau Federation don’t care about the health of farmers or their communities. Only corporate profits. A group called Protecting America Initiative ran a television ad in central Missouri during Super Bowl Sunday urging support for the deceptive legislation. The group has been running the same ad more broadly across Missouri and in Iowa, reports Associated Press.

These groups and their allies have been claiming that the bills are not pesticide immunity bills. THEY ARE LYING. Help us stop all of the Monsanto Protection Act bills in every state. If you are a resident in any of the active states, take action today. If you have family and friends in any of these states, please share. We can’t give pesticide companies permission to poison!

Bayer-Monsanto may be throwing the kitchen sink at us. But we can beat them with People Power.