Environmental advocates urge lawmakers to remove pesticide section from Farm Act
Leaders of the nonprofit advocacy group Toxic Free North Carolina held a virtual press conference along with community advocates on Wednesday to warn lawmakers against what they said are the dangers of Section 19 in the 2025 North Carolina Farm Act.
The provision, part of Senate Bill 639, would remove responsibility from pesticide manufacturers and sellers to disclose a product's risks as long as the pesticide container bears a label indicating that it has been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.
The bill's language would also remove the ability of individuals and families harmed by pesticide exposure to seek justice in court, according to Toxic Free NC.
'This is a direct attack on our community's right to hold chemical manufacturers accountable for the harm they cause,' Toxic Free NC Policy Manager Kendall Wimberley said. 'This is not something communities are asking for.'
Bayer, a Triangle-based global pesticide manufacturer, has supported the language in the bill as it has moved through several committees in the North Carolina Senate. The bill was withdrawn from the chamber's floor and referred to the Senate Rules Committee last week.
Similar bills have been introduced in other states. Eight have failed thus far in 2025 — in Iowa, Tennessee, Florida, Wyoming, Montana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Idaho — although North Dakota and Georgia passed their versions of the legislation.
In Iowa, critics branded the proposal as the 'Cancer Gag Act' due to the dangers it allegedly posed.
'Evidence presented in the courts is showing that Bayer has failed to warn consumers about the harms of their products,' Wimberley said. 'They are facing billions of dollars in settlement lawsuits, and they are now spending millions of dollars lobbying efforts to try to stop that.'
Section 19 would shield pesticide companies from responsibility even when their products pose high risks for cancer, brain damage, infertility, or developmental harm in children, according to Wimberley, as these specific health risks are not required to be included on pesticide labels.
The North Carolina Farm Act has come under fire for another portion of the bill as well. About 100 activists gathered in Raleigh at the start of the month to advocate against banning raw milk sales as the bill was heard before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Bayer did not immediately respond to NC Newsline's request for comment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
44 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Detroit voters will pick 2 candidates from a large field vying to become next mayor
DETROIT (AP) — Voters in Detroit will see a mayoral ballot without Mike Duggan's name on it for the first time since 2012 as they go to the polls Tuesday to narrow the field of nine candidates jockeying to succeed him in the job. The continued growth of the city could be at stake since Duggan has helmed Detroit as it exited the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history and surged back to respectability following decades of mediocrity. The former prosecutor and medical center chief has overseen a massive anti-blight campaign and pushed affordable housing developments across the city. The top two vote-getters in the nonpartisan primary will move on to the general election to determine who takes office in January. Duggan didn't seek reelection as he launches an independent campaign for Michigan governor next year. A long list of candidates The field of nine features the Detroit City Council president, a current council member, former council member, pastor of a megachurch and a popular ex-police chief. Council President Mary Sheffield is seen by many as the leading candidate in the primary, dominating campaign fundraising. She first was elected to the Detroit City Council in 2013 at age 26. She has been council president since 2022. Saunteel Jenkins was elected in 2009 to the City Council where she spent one four-year term. Jenkins later became chief executive of a nonprofit, which provides utility assistance for families. Current Councilman Fred Durhal III also is on the primary ballot. He has been on the council since 2021 and was a Michigan state representative from 2014 to 2019. The Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr. has been senior pastor at Triumph Church for about 27 years. The Detroit-based church has more than 40,000 members across a number of campuses. Kinloch also was an autoworker and member of the United Auto Workers union. Former police chief James Craig came to Detroit in 2013 amid the city's bankruptcy crisis and remained in charge of the police department until retiring in 2021. Craig failed to make the Republican ballot for Michigan governor in 2022 due to fraudulent signatures on campaign petitions. In 2024, he dropped a Republican bid for an open U.S. Senate seat. Other candidates include attorney Todd Perkins, digital creator DaNetta Simpson, business owner Joel Haashiim and entrepreneur John Barlow. The stakes for Detroit The next mayor will inherit a city on much firmer footing than the one Duggan was elected to lead in 2013 when an emergency manager installed by the state to oversee the city's flailing finances filed for bankruptcy on its behalf. Detroit shed or restructured about $7 billion in debt and exited bankruptcy in December 2014. A state-appointed board managed the city's finances for several years. Detroit has had 12 consecutive years of balanced budgets. Developers have built hundreds of affordable housing units in the city, and more than 25,000 vacant and derelict homes and buildings have been demolished. The next mayor, though, will be under pressure to maintain that progress and continuing to keep the city's growth — financially and in people — going. In 2023, the census estimated that Detroit's population rose to 633,218 from 631,366 the previous year. It was the first time the city had shown population growth in decades. Detroit also is becoming a destination for visitors. The 2024 NFL draft held downtown set a record with more than 775,000 in attendance. New hotels are popping up in and around downtown. But perhaps the most visual example of the city's turnaround has been the renovation of the once-blighted monolithic Michigan Central train station. For decades, the massive building just west of downtown symbolized all that was wrong with Detroit. That's before Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford Motor Co. stepped in and bought the old Michigan Central and adjacent properties. It reopened in 2024 following a six-year, multimillion-dollar renovation that created a hub for mobility projects. While no longer a manufacturing powerhouse, Detroit's economy still is intertwined with the auto industry which currently faces uncertainties due to tariffs threatened and imposed by the Trump administration. Stellantis, the maker of Jeep and Ram vehicles, has two facilities in Detroit. The automaker said last month that its preliminary estimates show a $2.68 billion net loss in the first half of the year due to U.S. tariffs and some hefty charges.
Politico
2 hours ago
- Politico
Appeals court upholds Texas law requiring ID numbers to cast mail-in ballots
'The number-matching requirements are obviously designed to confirm that every mail-in voter is who he claims he is,' Ho wrote for the panel. 'And that is plainly material to determining whether an individual is qualified to vote.' The judges said that merely requiring applications to list the voter's name and address was insufficient to address security concerns. 'That information is easily available to anyone who simply requests it,' wrote Ho, a Trump appointee. 'As a result, any person can request and receive that information about a registered voter, use that information to apply for a mail-in ballot, and then cast the ballot, with minimal risk of detection.' The ruling is the latest from the conservative 5th Circuit to allow tightening voter eligibility and balloting requirements. Another panel of that court recently ruled that mail-in ballots must arrive by Election Day to be counted. The decision also lands amid an intensifying showdown over an effort by Texas GOP leaders to redraw the state's congressional boundaries to produce five more Republican-held seats. The urgent push — and Democratic lawmakers' decision to flee the state to derail the effort — has gripped Washington amid a broader struggle for an advantage in the 2026 midterms. Ho was joined in his ruling by Judge Don Willett, another Trump appointee, and Judge Patrick Higginbotham, a Reagan appointee. Civil rights groups and the Biden administration sued to block enforcement of aspects of the election-integrity measure, arguing that the bill had the potential to disqualify large numbers of ballots that were cast by legitimate voters but might contain minor errors. U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez Jr., a San Antonio-based George W. Bush appointee, ruled in 2023 that the presence of an accurate ID number was not material to whether a voter was entitled to vote.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Alaska Sen. Murkowski toys with bid for governor, defends vote supporting Trump's tax breaks package
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, speaking with Alaska reporters Monday, toyed with the idea of running for governor and defended her recent high-profile decision to vote in support of President Donald Trump's tax breaks and spending cuts bill. Murkowski, speaking from Anchorage, said 'sure' when asked if she has considered or is considering a run for governor. She later said her response was 'a little bit flippant' because she gets asked that question so often. 'Would I love to come home? I have to tell you, of course I would love to come home,' she said. 'I am not making any decisions about anything, because my responsibility to Alaskans is my job in the Senate right now.' Several Republicans already have announced plans to run in next year's governor's race, including Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy is not eligible to seek a third consecutive term. Alaska has an open primary system and ranked choice voting in general elections. Murkowski is not up for reelection until 2028. A centrist, Murkowski has become a closely watched figure in a sharply divided Congress. She has at times been at odds with her party in her criticism of Trump and blasted by some GOP voters as a 'Republican in name only.' But her decision to support Trump's signature bill last month also frustrated others in a state where independents comprise the largest number of registered voters. She previously described her decision-making process around the bill as 'agonizing.' On Monday, she said it was clear to her the bill was not only a priority of Trump's but also that it was going to pass, so it became important to her to help make it as advantageous to the state as she could. 'So I did everything within my power — as one lawmaker from Alaska — to try to make sure that the most vulnerable in our state would not be negatively impacted,' she said. 'And I had a hard choice to make, and I think I made the right choice for Alaskans.'
