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By Sam Stockard

Tennessee Lookout

A Republican-backed bill that passed Tennessee’s Senate Judiciary Committee Monday would give pesticide and herbicide companies such as Bayer, the owner of Roundup, broader protection from lawsuits.

Senate Bill 527, sponsored by Sen. John Stevens of Huntingdon, would provide legal immunity to pesticide manufacturers as long as their federally-approved label doesn’t warn of a disease. Roundup’s Environmental Protection Agency label doesn’t disclose that their product could cause cancer, meaning under this potential law, the company couldn’t be sued for causing the disease.

The measure passed 6-2 Monday with Republican support after farmers and the Tennessee Farm Bureau testified in favor of the bill. The House version of the bill by Republican Rep. Rusty Grills of Newbern is slated to be heard by the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday.

Kevin Hensley, a lobbyist for the Tennessee Farm Bureau, told lawmakers the bill would avert only cases involving product labels approved by the Environmental Protection Agency. He contended companies don’t control what goes on those labels.

Stevens agreed, saying manufacturers don’t have an option on a label’s wording and can’t defend themselves against claims.

“They’re put into an impossible situation on litigation costs if nothing else,” Stevens said.

Bayer has also hired the Bivens lobbying group, whose political action committee has given Stevens $12,000 in the past five years, the fifth most of any donor, according to the Lookout’s database tracking political spending.

Smith County farmer George McDonald testified that pesticides from modern chemistry allow farmers to till the ground less and control erosion caused by heavy rains. He also said farmers have to undergo training to apply pesticides and herbicides according to their EPA labels.

McDonald acknowledged he and supporters of the bill are being accused of stripping away people’s legal rights, but he added, “If we do not have these pesticides, taking them away from farmers will be like taking tractors away from farmers.”

Opponents of the bill countered that it will remove people’s constitutional rights to a jury trial when they’re diagnosed with deadly forms of cancer such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

A Georgia jury last week ordered Germany-based Bayer, the parent company of Monsanto, to pay almost $2.1 billion to a man who claimed he contracted the disease from using the company’s Roundup weed killer.

Similar legislation has been rejected in Iowa, Missouri, Idaho, Wyoming and Mississippi, yet Bayer-Monsanto hasn’t pulled products from shelves, even while facing more than 170,000 lawsuits, leading opponents to say the chemical maker is more concerned with increasing earnings than protecting people.

Tennessee law already caps such lawsuit awards at $2.25 million. 

“This is a concerted effort by Bayer to go state to state to state to try to get this immunity,” said Danny Ellis, president of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association.

Ellis said opponents of the bill aren’t arguing that the products should be banned, only that customers such as farmers should maintain their right to take legal action.

He later added that the EPA is handcuffed when it comes to labeling because it depends on pesticide and herbicide manufacturers to provide information for customers.

Bernadette Pajer of Stand for Health Freedom told the committee the manufacturer is trying to confuse lawmakers by making the argument about product labeling and described the tactic as “evil brilliance.”

Other critics of the bill said the state shouldn’t allow foreign companies such as Bayer and China-based Chemcorp to dictate policy and accused the EPA of colluding with them to cover up wrongdoing.

Republican Sen. Todd Gardenhire of Chattanooga said before testimony started that he usually sides with the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association yet wound up voting for the bill. He also issued a stern warning to people in the audience who snapped their fingers in opposition to the bill and threatened to remove them from the room.

“If any of you SOBs want to snap your fingers, get the hell out of this committee,” said Gardenhire, who explained he has hearing problems and couldn’t hear witnesses. “It’s totally irresponsible, it’s rude and it’s stupid. That’s with three O’s in the middle. Say it out loud, stooopid.”

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and X.