The House of Representatives on Thursday stripped a set of controversial provisions aimed at protecting pesticide producers from the farm bill, following an outcry from Make America Healthy Again that could have stopped the broader package.
An amendment led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., stripping the language was passed by a vote of 280-142, after various grounds for opposition arose from lawyers and MAHA advocates who said the provisions amounted to a “liability shield” for protection. Bayer from allegations that Roundup herbicide and its chemical glyphosate cause cancer. A comprehensive farm bill cleared the House Thursday morning by a vote of 224-200.
Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, who helped lead the push to remove the pesticide language from Democrats, said the language represents a “giveaway to big agriculture, big chemicals.”
“It preempts states’ rights to regulate pesticide use or labeling [and] it provides liability protection for pesticide manufacturers,” Pingree said on the House floor. “Simply put, this language puts chemical company profits above the lives of the American people.”
A sign opposing Chairman Glenn Thompson’s Farm Bill in Washington DC, April 30, 2026.
Angela Grayling Keane | CNBC
Dozens of lawsuits over the years have claimed that glyphosate causes cancer and Bayer and Monsanto, which developed Roundup before the German pharmaceutical giant acquired it, are often found guilty of failing to warn about the cancer risk. The Environmental Protection Agency does not list glyphosate as a carcinogen and does not require labels to disclose the risk of cancer, but the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2015 said the chemical is “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
The language in the bill would have prohibited any states and courts from punishing or holding “liability to any entity for failure to comply with requirements that may require additional labeling or packaging or other labeling or packaging approved by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.”
Chairman Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa. hearings before the House Agriculture Committee marked up the “Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025” in the Longworth House Office Building on Tuesday, June 10, 2025.
Bill Clark | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
House Agriculture Chairman GT Thompson vetoed the amendment, arguing with reporters Wednesday night that striking down the provision would be “such a blow to the American farmer.” Thompson has repeatedly dismissed claims that the language represents liability protection, saying it would only prevent “frivolous lawsuits” and that “bad actors” could still be sued.
Still, Thompson still celebrated the passage of the farm bill, saying in an X post that it’s “a win for our farmers, ranchers, foresters, rural communities and all Americans across our country.”
Glyphosate is the most widely used pesticide in the US The White House and the MAHA coalition supported President Donald Trump after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. out of the 2024 election has suffered since Trump endorsed the production of glyphosate in February.
Earlier this week, the White House spoke on Bayer’s behalf in the Supreme Court in a case that would make it more difficult to sue the company over cancer claims.
The farm bill is now headed to the Senate.
