Labels on pesticides commonly used in Missouri fields might soon have fewer required warnings on them.
Senator Kurtis Gregory’s (R-Marshall) bill gets at the central debate in a wave of Missouri lawsuits. Pesticide maker Bayer has been ordered to pay more than $600 million in a flood of Cole County lawsuits after multiple courts ruled against the company’s argument that federal warnings about the cancer-causing effects of its weed killer glyphosate were sufficient. Those actions are among approximately 200,000 lawsuits filed against Bayer alleging the carcinogenic side effects of the company's glyphosate-based weed killers were not adequately disclosed.
Gregory’s bill reduces state labeling requirements to the lower federal threshold. Missouri Soybean Association Executive Director Casey Wasser testified in favor of the bill, saying he doesn’t think additional labeling is necessary.
“The EPA has repeatedly affirmed that glyphosate is safe when used according to the label and has explicitly stated that a canceling cancer warning on the label would be false and misleading, they are not going to place it on a product they do not approve,” Wasser said.
Lobbying on behalf of the conservative Missouri state’s rights group Freedom Principle, Byron Keelin testified in opposition to this bill, saying Missouri shouldn’t give the federal government authority to regulate Missouri chemicals.
“We don't want to hand direct regulatory authority over to Missouri's chemicals and fertilizers to the federal government. We've seen the abuses of the federal government in the past and undermining our state's rights,”
This bill does not guarantee protection or immunity for companies if one chooses to sue. The approval by the Agriculture, Food Production and Outdoor Resources Committee sends the bill to the full Senate.