JEFFERSON CITY — Two of the top Republican candidates for Missouri governor differ on whether they’d sign legal protections for pesticide makers facing claims they failed to warn of product cancer risks.
State Sen. Bill Eigel of Weldon Spring says he would veto such a bill. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft says he’d sign it. Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe’s campaign didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The differences follow German chemical maker Bayer’s failed push this year in Missouri, Idaho and Iowa for laws stopping failure-to-warn claims as the company faces about 170,000 lawsuits involving its weedkiller Roundup.
Bayer acquired Roundup maker Monsanto in 2018. The legislation would protect pesticide companies from claims they failed to warn their products could cause cancer if their labels otherwise comply with EPA regulations.
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With support from business groups, and opposition from trial attorneys, the measure cleared the Missouri House in April, but with more than a dozen Republicans voting against it in the GOP-controlled chamber.
The Missouri legislation eventually died in the Senate, but Bayer, which disputes the cancer claims, plans a renewed push during next year’s legislative sessions and may expand efforts elsewhere.
“It harmonizes state and federal law in a way that reduces the burdens on business to comply,” Jason Cabel Roe, spokesman for Ashcroft, said in a statement.
Eigel, however, would veto the bill, according to Sophia Shore, his campaign manager.
“As governor, Bill Eigel will stand up for the little guy and protect Missouri jobs and Missouri workers,” Shore said in a statement. “For too long, big business has gotten a free pass, while everyday Missourians have gotten passed over. That ends when Bill Eigel is governor.”
Law firms specializing in personal injury cases have heavily backed Eigel’s election effort.
Though Kehoe’s campaign didn’t say what he would do, business groups that voiced support for the plan have also endorsed the lieutenant governor — groups such as the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Missouri Soybean Association and the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association.
Many U.S. farmers rely on Roundup, which was introduced 50 years ago as a more efficient way to control weeds and reduce tilling and soil erosion. For crops including corn, soybeans and cotton, it’s designed to work with genetically modified seeds that resist Roundup’s deadly effect.
“This is bigger than just those states, and it’s bigger than just Bayer,” said Jess Christiansen, head of Bayer’s crop science and sustainability communications. “This is really about the crop protection tools that farmers need to secure production.”
The lawsuits allege Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate, causes a cancer called non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Though some studies associate glyphosate with cancer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said it is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans when used as directed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.