The Iowa Senate passed a bill to prevent lawsuits that claim a pesticide company failed to warn consumers of health risks, as long as the product has a federally-approved label.
The bill was proposed by Bayer. The company has faced 180,000 lawsuits claiming its weedkiller Roundup gave people cancer.
Sen. Mike Bousselot, R-Ankeny, says the bill would still allow lawsuits that don’t use a failure-to-warn claim.
“This is about the very narrow idea that if a company follows the federal law, that they’re required to follow to sell a product — they follow it to the T — that you shouldn’t sue them for having put the wrong label on that product.”
But Democrats say the bill gives pesticide makers immunity from cancer lawsuits by prohibiting the most important avenue for seeking justice.
The bill passed 26 to 21, with six Republicans joining all Democrats in voting no. It now goes to the House for consideration.
