Pesticide industry ‘immunity shield’ stripped from US appropriations bill
The Guardian••nation
Key Points:
- Democrats successfully removed a rider from the 2026 congressional appropriations bill that would have protected pesticide makers, notably Bayer, from lawsuits and limited state efforts to warn about pesticide risks.
- The deleted provision, heavily lobbied for by Bayer, would have blocked federal funds from being used to adopt policies or warnings inconsistent with EPA health assessments, potentially preventing states from issuing updated pesticide risk warnings.
- Critics argued the language would have hindered consumer lawsuits against pesticide makers and restricted state and local governments from regulating harmful chemicals, while Bayer maintains its products are safe and opposes "blanket immunity."
- The effort to remove the rider was supported by bipartisan advocacy groups like "Make America Healthy Again," marking increased Republican engagement on the issue,
