The Pesticide Immunity Shield

What Section 453 does: Blocks the government from taking any action if it differs in any way from the agency’s most recent health or cancer assessment. Unless they do a new assessment—which takes “no less than four years, and sometimes over 12″ according to EPA—agencies would not be allowed to update safety warnings, food safety tolerances, or guidance even if new science shows harm, even if companies ask for updates, even if the original assessment was based on fraud.

The trap: Pesticide companies need EPA approval to update label warnings. EPA can only act after they perform new health assessments, but the EPA does not do their own scientific tests. Their health assessments rely primarily on unpublished studies paid for by the pesticide company. Pesticide companies have been known to hide evidence, manipulate science, and deny, deny, deny that their products are causing harm. And if they don’t like the outcome of a new EPA health assessment, they will sue to delay it even longer.

Meanwhile: People keep getting cancer. Kids keep getting poisoned. Companies say you “can’t blame us – our product is safe — EPA hasn’t told us to warn anyone!”

Here’s the worst part: Courts will be forced to agree with pesticide companies. Section 453 means EPA can’t approve updated warnings, allowing companies to argue it is impossible to comply with FIFRA’s labeling obligations and their duty to warn consumers about risks posed by their products under state product liability law.

Real example: Monsanto buried evidence that Roundup causes cancer. Their EPA health assessment hasn’t been (successfully) updated since 1993 – 30+ years ago. They’re asking SCOTUS to throw out cancer cases using this exact defense, right now.

What’s at stake:

If this passes: Pesticide companies can hide behind EPA’s outdated and inadequate labels – even when they know their pesticides cause cancer, brain damage, and birth and developmental defects.

“I am calling regarding Section 453 in the Federal House Appropriation Bill. Under no circumstance should pesticide companies get a free pass to continue poisoning American kids. This provision effectively provides foreign chemical companies like ChemChina a free pass to hide behind the EPA and poison Americans with no recourse. Remove Section 453 immediately.”

What Section 453 does: Blocks the government from taking any action if it differs in any way from the agency’s most recent health or cancer assessment. Unless they do a new assessment—which takes “no less than four years, and sometimes over 12″ according to EPA—agencies would not be allowed to update safety warnings, food safety tolerances, or guidance even if new science shows harm, even if companies ask for updates, even if the original assessment was based on fraud.

The trap: Pesticide companies need EPA approval to update label warnings. EPA can only act after they perform new health assessments, but the EPA does not do their own scientific tests. Their health assessments rely primarily on unpublished studies paid for by the pesticide company. Pesticide companies have been known to hide evidence, manipulate science, and deny, deny, deny that their products are causing harm. And if they don’t like the outcome of a new EPA health assessment, they will sue to delay it even longer.

Meanwhile: People keep getting cancer. Kids keep getting poisoned. Companies say you “can’t blame us – our product is safe — EPA hasn’t told us to warn anyone!”