ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The Missouri Legislature is halfway to the finish line in helping chemical company Bayer avoid future cancer-related lawsuits over its Roundup weed killer.
The Missouri House has passed proposed protections, after Bayer paid out billions of dollars in lawsuits over the popular herbicide.
Butler Republican Dane Diehl is sponsoring the bill that would allow the existing federal warning label requirement about cancer to be considered adequate.
"We want to continue to maintain, feeding those around us around the world," said Diehl. "We truly believe that there's not a better process out there to make that these products are highly analyzed, looked at and that they can continue to developing and market those to us."
Diehl says his bill will allow farmers to continue to feed the world and use chemicals that are “highly analyzed.”
Columbia Democrat Adrian Plank, says the bill gives the Germans and Chinese a free pass in “murdering of Americans with no accountability.”
"I've got lots of people who died in my district over the years because of pesticides," said Plank. "I refuse to be an accessory to foreign entities and murdering of Americans with no accountability."
The proposal’s next stop is the Missouri Senate, where the bill could be tweaked.