Will Iowa lawmakers try again to protect Bayer?

When a giant pharmaceutical and agricultural conglomerate ran into trouble, some Republicans in the Iowa Legislature, being generous souls, tried to help.

Not all heroes wear capes. But they can buy them with campaign donations.

The conglomerate is Bayer Global, which bought Monsanto in 2018 and is the maker of Roundup weed killer. The killing is done by glyphosate, Roundup’s main ingredient.

But since then, poor Bayer has been saddled with lawsuits filed by people who developed cancer and other ailments after using the stuff for a long time. Glyphosate is the No. 1 herbicide in use by farmers, who plant genetically modified crops resistant to Roundup. Kill the weeds but not the corn.

Bayer has paid out billions in legal settlements, although the glyphosate market is predicted to top $11 billion by 2030. During the past two legislative sessions, some Republicans have tried to pass a bill shielding Bayer from “failure to warn” lawsuits brought by sick glyphosate users. Slap on a federal warning label and they’re good.

Most of the Roundup comes from a plant in Muscatine. The company says it may have to shut the joint down without legislative help. Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley told Radio Iowa recently that lawmakers will again consider shielding Bayer during the upcoming 2026 session. A bill narrowly passed the Senate last year, with several Republicans voting against it. It stalled in the GOP-controlled House.

Besides, the Environmental Protection Agency says glyphosate is safe as kittens.

Yeah, well, about that.

Maybe you missed it, but last week a study issued in 2000 that is among the most often cited as proof of glyphosate’s safety was retracted by the journal that published it.

Turns out the study was done with the help of scientists from Monsanto. Lawsuits have revealed emails showing Monsanto’s role, according to the New York Times.

“ In the emails, Monsanto employees praised each other for their ‘hard work’ on the paper, which included data collection, writing and review. One Monsanto employee expressed hope that the study would become ‘the’ reference on Roundup and glyphosate safety,’” the paper reported.

So, the journal, Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, retracted the 25-year-old study citing “serious ethical concerns.” The authors may have been paid by Monsanto.

Meanwhile, other scientists are finding cancer risks. A study published by George Mason University in June found that lab rats exposed to glyphosate had “increased incidences of benign and malignant tumors” from several forms of cancer.

In November, Dennis D. Weisenburger, MD, with the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, reported “over the last five years, the epidemiologic, animal, and mechanistic studies have continued to provide a consistent, coherent and compelling pattern of evidence” of glyphosate’s cancer risks.

The international Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) “concluded glyphosate and GBFs are probably carcinogenic to humans.”

You’d think in a farm state, lawmakers would be wary of denying sick farmers a day in court. As for the Muscatine plant, is making a likely carcinogenic chemical a business model we endorse?

But this also is a state where politicians haven’t lifted a finger to stop nitrate fertilizer and hog crap from fouling our waterways. Drinking water is threatened. Rural wells are polluted. And research shows long-term nitrate exposure may also cause multiple cancers. By the way, Iowa’s cancer rate is among the highest nationally.

So, liability protection is a terrible idea. And that’s being generous.

(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com