JEFFERSON CITY鈥 The Missouri House on Tuesday gave initial approval to a measure shielding herbicide producer Bayer from certain legal scrutiny.
Bayer, whose U.S. headquarters is in Creve Coeur, has argued the ingredient under scrutiny in its Roundup weedkiller 鈥 glyphosate 鈥 is essential to the state鈥檚 agriculture industry.
On the House floor Tuesday, the bill sponsor, state Rep. Dane Diehl, R-Butler, argued it鈥檚 better to use a product that鈥檚 produced and regulated in the U.S. rather than a foreign-made generic product.
Diehl was met with concerns from all sides of the political spectrum. Rep. Mark Matthiesen, R-O鈥橣allon, warned the proposal would mislead consumers into thinking the product is safe with no recourse to sue if it is not.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 sit by and let a bottle of a poisonous chemical just show up on the shelf where people can go, 鈥極K, the EPA label is on there, we鈥檙e good,鈥 but then can鈥檛 sue because the failure to warn clause is removed,鈥 Matthiesen said.
Bayer has paid out billions in settlements to people who claim using glyphosate has led to them getting non-Hodgkin鈥檚 lymphoma.
Trial lawyers, who oppose the bill and represent those suing Bayer, claim the legislation would prevent them from suing the company for 鈥渇ailure to warn.鈥 They argue, if the bill passes, the company wouldn鈥檛 suffer consequences for not warning consumers about the product鈥檚 risks.
Bayer contends the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should decide what鈥檚 safe, not a jury.聽The EPA has found that glyphosate is 鈥渘ot likely to be carcinogenic to humans.鈥
Bayer AG CEO Bill Anderson, in an interview last year with the Post-Dispatch said, 鈥淭he scientifically staffed regulator 鈥 in this case, the EPA 鈥 can put tens of thousands of hours of scientists鈥 time into evaluations with access to all the studies that have been done over 50 years, and then we expect a jury of non-scientists to render an opinion on the same question in a court.
鈥淗ow can we warn people of a cancer risk if we have a product that doesn鈥檛 cause cancer,鈥 Anderson added.
The legislation still needs another vote in the House before moving to the Senate for consideration.
Last year similar legislation died in the Senate as lawmakers with close ties to the trial attorney industry refused to consider it.
