Iowans gathered in the State Capitol rotunda on Monday to remember family members who have died from cancer and protest a bill in the Iowa Senate that would create new protections against lawsuits for companies that produce pesticides.
“What our legislators should be doing is working on bills that lower the risk for Iowans rather than working on bills that help the chemical companies protect themselves,” Rich Gradoville told the crowd of about 150 gathered in the rotunda.
Two years ago, Gradoville, a retired teacher from Johnston, was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Although Gradoville is uncertain about what caused his cancer, he wants to make sure Iowans have the ability to file lawsuits that hold pesticide manufacturers accountable in cases where their products are believed to have caused a person’s cancer.
SSB 1051 “specifies that a label provides sufficient warning” as long as that warning label has language based on the warnings the EPA has published on those chemicals. Of course, corporations lobby the federal government and sue the EPA over classifications they object to, so it can take decades for EPA warning labels to accurately reflect current science.
Bayer, the international chemical conglomerate, is pushing the Iowa Legislature to pass SSB 1051, in order to protect it from lawsuits over allegations that glyphosate, the active ingredient in its widely used spray RoundUp, causes cancer. Bayer is the only manufacturer of glyphosate in the United States.
The EPA has not labelled glyphosate as a cancer risk, but in 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer determined the chemical to be “probably carcinogenic to humans.” Bayer insists RoundUp and glyphosate do not pose a cancer risk to those who use it or are exposed to it, but in 2020, the company paid over $10 billion to settle more than 95,000 lawsuits filed over RoundUp’s label not warning users about the risk of cancer. Most of the lawsuits were from farmers or members of their families, and others exposed to agricultural chemicals.
It would not be possible for Iowans to file such lawsuits if SSB 1051 becomes law. Bayer currently is backing similar bills in eight other states — Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Tennessee — and is lobbying Congress for new federal protections. A bill Bayer was backing in the Wyoming Legislature died this session when it failed to pass out of committee before a deadline.
Last week, SSB 1051 was passed by an Iowa Senate subcommittee.
Brad Epperly, a lobbyist for Bayer, assured the three-member subcommittee that the bill wasn’t about providing legal immunity for the conglomerate, but just about making sure it wasn’t penalized for keeping its warning labels to the minimum required by the EPA.
“We ask, simply support a very simple bill, which is merely addressing the labeling requirements,” Epperly said.
Both Republicans on the subcommittee, Sen. Mike Bousselot of Ankeny and Sen. Tom Shipley of Nodaway, voted to advance the bill. Sen. Tony Bisignano, a Democrat from Des Moines, voted against it.
The bill is supported by the state’s largest agri-business groups, including the Iowa Corn Growers Association, the Iowa Soybean Association, the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, as well as the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. The groups are opposed to any impediments to RoundUp being used in the state.
Senate President Amy Sinclair, a Republican from Allerton, is also an enthusiastic supporter of SSB 1051. During an appearance on Iowa Press last month, Sinclair characterized lawsuits over RoundUp not warning users about cancer risks as a “money grab, and it’s a money grab on a business where all they are doing is following the letter of the federal law and that shouldn’t be allowed.”
Sinclair used the same language last year when the same bill was before the Senate. The Senate passed the bill, but it died in the Iowa House.
Opponents of SSB 1051 include the Iowa Farmers Union, the Center for Rural Affairs, the Episcolpal Diocese of Iowa and several environmental and labor groups. Two of those groups, Food and Water Watch Iowa and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, organized the protest at the State Capitol on Monday.
As speakers noted, the push to give Bayer greater legal protection against cancer-related lawsuits comes as Iowa has has the second-highest rate of new cancers in the country for three years in a row. Participants also took time to remember loved ones who have died from cancer. Photos of some of those deceased family members were displayed on a board at the protest.
“Do we make chemical manufacturers be responsible for all cancer in the state? No,” Nancy Huisinga, a former hospice nurse, said, speaking in front of a banner that said “Kill the Cancer Gag Act.” “Do we stand up for people who have an illness related to manufactured carcinogens and protect their right to be able to take the manufacturer to court for damages? Absolutely. Of course we do.”
“All we are asking is the right to recourse, the right to sue if someone threatens our lives.”
