Lawmakers Launch Bipartisan Bill to Block Trump’s Executive Order on Glyphosate
“If we’re Making America Healthy Again, government shouldn’t be promoting glyphosate and providing liability immunity for corporations making it."
This article originally appeared on The Defender and was republished with permission.
Guest post by Brenda Baletti, Ph.D.
Reps. Thomas Massie and Chellie Pingree introduced the No Immunity for Glyphosate Act in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order boosting domestic glyphosate production and shielding manufacturers from liability. The bipartisan bill would block federal funding for the order and reaffirm the right of individuals to sue chemical companies for health issues related to glyphosate.
Two days after President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. to boost production of glyphosate, two federal lawmakers introduced bipartisan legislation to block the controversial executive order.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) on Friday introduced the No Immunity for Glyphosate Act (H.R. 7601).
If passed, the bill would block federal funding to implement the executive order. The legislation also explicitly grants people injured by glyphosate — or elemental phosphorus, its key ingredient — to sue manufacturers for their injuries.
Trump’s executive order offered U.S.-based chemical makers immunity from liability if the government orders them, under the Defense Production Act of 1950, to produce glyphosate.
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller. Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in June 2018, is facing tens of thousands of lawsuits from people alleging Roundup caused them to develop cancer. The company is the only producer of the chemical in the U.S. It also supplies about 40% of the world’s glyphosate.
Bayer has been aggressively pursuing legislative and judicial strategies to block such lawsuits at the state and federal levels.
“If we’re Making America Healthy Again, government shouldn’t be promoting glyphosate and providing liability immunity for corporations making it,” Massie said on X.
Co-sponsors also include a mix of Republicans and Democrats — including Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). Farm Action Fund endorsed the bill.
Pingree: executive order is ‘dangerous and indefensible’
In a press release, Massie said, “Congress should ensure that Americans retain their right to seek a remedy in court if they believe they have been injured by this product.”
Pingree echoed the need to safeguard public health and accountability, calling the executive order “dangerous and indefensible.”
Trump’s order stated that elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides are scarce materials critical to national defense, and that inadequate domestic production poses an imminent threat to military readiness and food security.
“Glyphosate-based herbicides are a cornerstone of this Nation’s agricultural productivity and rural economy,” it said.
But Pingree said the order “has nothing to do with protecting farmers or feeding the country — it’s about protecting corporate profits and insulating polluters from accountability.”
Executive order triggers cascade of criticism
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in widely used herbicides such as Roundup, has been at the center of decades of legal and scientific debate.
Roundup Ready crops, genetically engineered by Monsanto to withstand glyphosate application, dominate U.S. agriculture. Over 90% of soybeans, cotton and corn are produced in the U.S. using the technology.
The widespread use of the seeds has led to Roundup-resistant “superweeds,” forcing farmers to use greater quantities of chemicals.
Studies link glyphosate to cancer and other serious health issues, including harm to the kidney, liver, immune system, reproductive system, and during early-life development.
In December, the hallmark 2000 paper widely cited as evidence that Roundup is safe was retracted due to “serious ethical concerns.” Evidence showed that Monsanto employees helped ghostwrite the paper.
Bayer has faced tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging the chemical causes cancer. Just days before the executive order, the company proposed a $7.25 billion settlement to resolve many of those claims.
Trump’s executive order outraged MAHA, or Make America Healthy Again, activists, many of whom have been fighting the use of Roundup and other glyphosate-based weedkillers for decades.
Zen Honeycutt of Moms Across America told The Defender the decision was a betrayal of Trump’s earlier promises on health reform, and said it “paved the path for glyphosate to continue destroying farmland, fertility, and our families’ health for generations to come.”
Kelly Ryerson, known on X as “GlyphosateGirl,” who has been lobbying for restrictions on glyphosate and other pesticides, said it was an insult to the people who had supported Trump because of promises that MAHA issues would be taken seriously.
Bayer rolling out multi-pronged strategy to protect itself against liability
Bayer has also been rolling out a series of legislative attempts to constrain consumers’ ability to sue it for health damages from glyphosate.
Earlier this year, a broad bipartisan coalition of food and environmental health advocates succeeded in eliminating a Bayer-backed provision tucked into a congressional appropriations bill that would have restricted the ability of people to sue the company for failing to warn of health risks if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration didn’t require the warnings.
Bayer has been pushing for a similar measure to be written into the pending Farm Bill,
The company also created a lobbying group, the Modern Ag Alliance, which has been pushing for laws at the state level to make it harder for consumers to sue over pesticide risks.
The state laws would shield Bayer from future lawsuits and potentially nullify at least some of the 67,000 active claims against the company. Georgia and North Dakota have passed these liability shield laws.
Related articles in The Defender
Trump Directs USDA to Make More Glyphosate, Signals Liability Protection for Pesticide Makers
Bayer Loses Round One in Fight for Legal Immunity, But More Battles Lie Ahead
Roundup Weedkillers Caused Multiple Cancers in Rats, Large International Study Finds
EPA Defends Plan to Gut Key Office Studying Health Risks of Pesticides and Other Toxins
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