By Hannah Fingerhut and David A. Lieb
Monks, Iowa (AP) – A renewed and extended effort of the Bayer chemical giant to protect himself from proceedings that claim that his popular whirlwind of weeds causes cancer has led dozens of demonstrators to Iowa Capitol Building on Monday, legislators of the legislators.
The legislation, awaiting Iowa and at least seven other states, would protect pesticide companies against the affirmations that it has not warned that their product causes cancer if the product label is otherwise in accordance with regulations of The American environmental protection agency.
Similar efforts failed during the 2024 legislative sessions in Iowa, Missouri and Idaho. But this year, Bayer and a coalition of agricultural groups double. A broader media campaign highlights the importance of the glyphosate tour for American agriculture. And they get the help of a group that has disseminated an announcement of the Super Bowl in Missouri saying that legislation is necessary to combat Chinese influence on American food supply.
Opponents, including those who joined monks on Monday, say that bills would limit the rights of people to hold responsible companies if their products cause damages. The speakers in turn tell stories of family members throughout the state that have received a diagnosis of cancers and have shouted to the legislators that the inhabitants of Iowa are more important than the profits of companies.
“I have the impression that we need responsibility here in iowa,” said Nick Schutt, a part -time farmer whose mother, father, aunt and two brothers and sisters all have diagnoses cancer. “In the end, multinational chemical companies like Bayer should be responsible.”
Bayer challenges the claims that an overview causes cancer, but the company was struck with around 177,000 prosecution involving the Weedkiller and put aside $ 16 billion to settle business. He maintains that these legal costs are “not sustainable” and seeks a relief of the legislators concerned with the possibility that Roundup can be withdrawn from the American market.
For crops, including corn, soybeans and cotton, Roundup is designed to operate with genetically modified seeds that resist the fatal effect of Weedkiller. It allows farmers to produce more crops while keeping the soil by plowing it less.
“This is the most important product in global agriculture,” said Liza Lockwood, directing Bayer’s medical affairs in his culture science division, during a recent audience of the Missouri Senate Committee.
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Some farmers have echoed this assertion. If the proceedings formulate the energy of the American market, they argue that Chinese manufacturing products can be the only alternative.
“The loss of access to this safe and effective tool will trigger a domino effect that will threaten family farmers and the economy of our state,” said Kevin Ross, a farmer in southwest Iowa, to legislators ‘Iowa. Ross explained how, for 50 years, the American manufacturing product increased the quality of the soil, a decrease in water runoff and helped farmers in difficulty achieve a profit.
An expanded area for legislation
Last year, Bayer concentrated its lobbying efforts on Missouri, Iowa and Idaho – at home, respectively, to its Culture Sciences Division in North America, to a Roundup and AUTHODIMENT INSTALL Phosphate mines from which its key ingredient is derived. Although Bills adopted at least one room in Iowa and Missouri, they finally failed in the three states.
This year, the legislation offering legal protection against non-Warn complaints has already adopted the Dakota Chamber of the North without any opposition. Similar bills have authorized the initial committees in Iowa, Mississippi and Missouri and are pending in the legislative committees in Florida, Oklahoma and Tennessee. A bill failed to get out of a Wyoming committee by a deadline.
Bayer officials said on Monday that legislative efforts were also underway in Georgia, Idaho and the US Congress. A promotional campaign of the Modern Ag Alliance, a coalition that Bayer supports, has targeted an even wider range of states.
What is new in the cause of this year, the protection of America, an organization concerned with the influence of China on the American economy and linked to Richard Grenell, the envoy of President Donald Trump for special missions and the former interim director of national intelligence. The group broadcast a television announcement Sunday in the center of the Missouri during the Super Bowl, urging the support of the legislation. He said he had invested six figures to manage the 30 second place more widely in the Missouri and Iowa.
He also parked a truck containing a portable display panel outside the Iowa Capitol on Monday, encouraging the support of the bill to prevent Chinese manufacturing chemicals from “infiltrating American farms”.
Concerns about cancer and pesticides
The advertisements for supporting legislation that could limit Bayer’s legal responsibility have stressed the importance of its weed control products for agriculture.
“Agriculture is difficult,” says Facebook advertising. “But it’s a little easier with glyphosate.”
This announcement offended Kim Hagemann, a suburban resident of monks who presented himself at a crowded sub-comity meeting to share her opposition with the legislators.
“Bayer is right, agriculture is difficult, but facing cancer is even more difficult,” said Hagemann, a member of one of the groups that organized the demonstration on Monday.
Although some studies associate the glyphosate with a key to cancer ingredient, the EPA said that it would probably not be carcinogenic for humans when used as indicated. However, the numerous proceedings against Bayer allege glyphosate causes cancer called non -Hodgkinian lymphoma.
One of the many lawyers involved in the proceedings against Bayer is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s candidate to be a secretary of health and social services. Although the health agency oversees the Food and Drug Administration, it does not control EPA and its labeling requirements.
The legislation supported by Bayer would provide a defense against complaints of non-Warn defect not only for Roundup, but for other pesticide products which follow the labeling directives of the EPA.
Richard Deming, a cancer doctor at monks, said that it often took decades to determine a cause and effect link between cancer and long -term exposure to low chemical levels. He said public policies should focus on mitigating this risk, without providing “immunity from responsibility”.
“I do not think that AG chemicals cause as much cancer as smoking,” said Deming in the AP after talking to the legislators. But studies suggest “there is a clear association between AG chemical exposure in the state of Iowa and the incidence of cancer”.
LIEB reported to Jefferson City, Missouri.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
