A senator introduced a bill that would allow pesticide companies to be held accountable for the negative impacts of the products they produce.
According to The Guardian, Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) introduced the Pesticide Injury Accountability Act, which would create a federal right of action, allowing people to sue pesticide companies such as Bayer, Syngenta, and others for causing health issues, including Parkinson's disease and cancer, with their products.
The bill comes at a time when pesticide companies have been pushing state-by-state legislation preventing people from filing suit against them for failing to warn them of potential health effects of their products.
"Rather than providing a liability shield so that foreign corporations are allowed to poison the American people, Congress should instead … ensure that these chemical companies can be held accountable in federal court for the harm caused by their toxic products," Booker said in a statement accompanying the announcement of the bill.
While pesticides are an important part of modern farming, they can pose serious health risks to humans. Long-term exposure to many pesticides can lead to issues like cancer, Parkinson's disease, anxiety and depression, and asthma, according to the Pesticide Action Network. And short-term exposure to stronger pesticides can cause irritation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of consciousness, headaches, seizures, and even death.
For their part, Bayer and Syngenta have been pushing their own federal legislation to preempt lawsuits against them and say the bill would harm American food security.
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Bayer said Thursday it wants to see federal legislation to "ensure that states and courts do not take a position or action regarding product labels at odds with congressional intent, federal law and established scientific research and federal authority."
"Farmers and consumers need to not only be able to trust the regulation of the products they use but trust that the government has made decisions based on agreed-upon and established science, facts, and data," Bayer said.
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