Foreign chemical companies have launched a coordinated, multi-front campaign to secure unprecedented legal immunity for pesticide products in the United States. This strategic effort spans federal legislation, state laws, EPA rulemaking, and Supreme Court litigation—all aimed at shielding manufacturers from accountability when their products cause harm to American farmers, property, and communities.
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The Comprehensive Immunity Campaign
Foreign chemical manufacturers have launched a coordinated assault on Americans’ right to know about the dangers of pesticides they use on their land and homes. While FIFRA requires truthful labeling and state law allows victims to seek remedies when companies misrepresent risks, these foreign owned chemical corporations are now pursuing total immunity across multiple fronts.
These companies have already caused devastating harm to American communities: destroying millions of acres of crops through drift damage, inflicting brain damage and cancer on agricultural workers, and causing developmental harm to children in rural areas. Now they seek absolute protection from accountability for knowingly concealing these dangers. If successful, their immunity campaign would strip American farmers and families of their constitutional right to seek justice when foreign corporations deliberately mislead them about products that poison their land, livestock, and loved ones.
Federal Total Immunity Efforts
• The Agricultural Labeling Uniformity Act seeks to make EPA-approved labels an absolute legal defense against any claim, regardless of whether companies withheld critical safety data
• Bayer has petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn decades of precedent that has maintained state accountability rules consistent with FIFRA
• Identical “model legislation” was targeted at 21 states across the country
State-Level Immunity Efforts
• Legislation is designed to make EPA-approved labels an absolute legal defense against any claim
• Model bill was introduced in 12 states and has been killed in 9: Legislators in Missouri, Iowa, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Florida rejected this policy. North Dakota and Georgia passed the legislation.
• Foreign chemical manufacturers admitted to being the financial backers of these state campaigns
Impact on American Agricultural Sovereignty and National Security Concerns
Chinese Military-Affiliated Beneficiaries of Immunity
• ChemChina (Syngenta’s parent company) is run by the Chinese Communist Party and is a designated Chinese military-controlled enterprise
• ChemChina sells paraquat and hundreds of other chemicals into the U.S., many of which are banned in China due to health risks
• ChemChina is actively being sued by American farmers dying from Parkinson’s disease, and litigation has revealed that the company knew Paraquat was linked to Parkinson’s disease. Immunity would let ChemChina off the hook for lying about safety and covering up the health risks when marketing this high-risk product specifically to American farmers
• Immunity empowers ChemChina to lie to regulators and American farmers about the safety of their products going forward, knowing they face little (or no) scrutiny after the label was approved
Strategic Vulnerability from Dangerous Chemicals
• Creates incentives for overseas manufacturers to prioritize U.S. markets for their riskiest products
• Eliminates farmers’ recourse for drift damage, crop loss, and contamination from misbranding
• Protects financial assets to foreign chemical companies while ruining lives of American farmers
• Discourages investment and innovation into safer American-made alternatives or methods
• Undermines food sovereignty by driving out American farmers crippled with medical bills or inability to farm
The Poisoning of American Farms and Farmers
Corruption of the Land and Body
• Total immunity for harms empowers chemical companies to withhold critical information about toxins that contaminate soil, water, and air
• These hidden poisons accumulate, destroying their vitality and undermining generational stewardship
• American agriculture loses its foundation when the truth about these substances remains hidden, and we become dependent on products that we thought were safe
Right to Know and Freedom to Choose
• Farmers deserve complete transparency about what they’re introducing to their land and bodies, which requires the company to be constantly updating their label to reflect the latest science
• Immunity encourages deception that prevents the rightful cleansing of American farmland and rural communities
• Companies must maintain truthful warnings as new dangers emerge—this is essential for agricultural sovereignty
Protecting American Agricultural Interests
This coordinated campaign for pesticide immunity primarily serves foreign chemical manufacturers— particularly those with ties to foreign governments—at the expense of American farmers, property rights, and agricultural sovereignty.
The multi-front approach through legislation, regulation, state laws, and litigation reveals a strategic effort to secure blanket immunity regardless of which avenue proves most successful. Granting immunity to foreign chemical companies that withhold critical safety data violates the covenant between American farmers and their land, robbing them of the right to make informed choices about what enters their soil, water, and bodies—corrupting not just the environment but the foundation of our agricultural heritage.
