Iowans told lawmakers to “do your job” at a rally organized by Food and Water Watch on Feb. 10, 2025 in the Iowa Capitol Rotunda. They were opposing a Senate bill relating to pesticide companies. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch).
About 150 people gathered in the Rotunda of the Iowa Statehouse Monday and raised their voices in a collective plea, shouting to lawmakers on the floor above to oppose a bill that would protect pesticide companies from certain lawsuits.
“Your job is to represent us, our loved ones and future generations,” the crowd chanted, following Food and Water Watch organizer Michaelyn Mankel who led the chant, “That means voting no on the cancer gag act.”
“Do your job,” the group chanted.
The bill, Senate Study Bill 1051, advanced out of subcommittee last week following robust testimony on both sides. Opponents of the bill argue it would take away from Iowans’ right to sue pesticide companies for causing certain illnesses, including cancers.
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Iowa agricultural commodity groups, representatives from the pesticide company, Bayer, and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, as supporters of the bill, argue these pesticides are vital to farmer livelihood and they would lose access to affordable, locally produced pesticides if the bill does not pass.
Under the bill, lawsuits against pesticide companies could still exist, though they would have to be different in nature—suing on grounds like product warranties or malfunctions.
The opponents gathered on Monday argued the bill would strip them of their ability to seek recourse for the harms that pesticides have caused them and their families.
“It stops ordinary Iowans from getting justice in the court,” Jennifer Breon with Food and Water Watch said of the bill.
According to Lawsuit Information Center, Bayer has settled over 100,000 cases related to cancer and RoundUp, totaling more than $11 billion.
RoundUp is a widely used brand of pesticide with the chemical glyphosate. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency holds that glyphosate is safe when used as directed and is “unlikely” to be a human carcinogen.
A spokesperson for Bayer said the company “stands behind the safety” of its glyphosate-based products “which have been tested extensively.”
“These bills would help protect the integrity of the regulatory process and ensure that the EPA’s thorough and scientifically based conclusion is adhered to,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “They would simply help ensure that any pesticide registered with the EPA – and sold under a label consistent with the EPA’s own determinations – is sufficient to satisfy requirements for health and safety warnings.”
Opponents of the bill look to other studies, notably a decision from the International Agency for Research on Cancer that the chemical is “probably carcinogenic.”
Much of the rally on Monday centered on the impacts of cancer on attendees’ lives.
Cancer vigil
Nick Schutt, an Iowan from Alden and regular speaker at Food and Water Watch events, spoke to the group on his birthday, which he also shared with his late older sister, Tammy, whose photo sat prominently on a table at the center of the gathering.
“ We need accountability here in Iowa,” Schutt said.
Schutt has lost a number of his family members to cancer, including the recent passing of his sister, and said he is battling it himself.
Many held up signs with “stop the cancer gag act” or “Bayer can’t buy immunity.”
Nicole Gomez of Des Moines came to the rally and said she was concerned by Iowa’s climbing cancer rates and the levels of nitrates in the drinking water. Gomez, brought her children, ages 6 and 11, with her to the Capitol to join in the rally.
“Your job is to protect us, you’re elected to care for your community and you’re not doing your job when you push through bills like this,” Gomez said, asked what she wanted Iowa lawmakers to know.
Gomez said she was also thinking of her aunt during the vigil, and like many other attendees, placed a flower in the vase on the table honoring Iowans who have suffered from cancer.
A similar bill passed the Iowa Senate last year. Other states, including Missouri, have introduced similar bills this year.
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