The policy pattern is clear: First, preemption of local authority over pesticide restrictions. Second, the pursuit of liability protections for manufacturers of toxic substances. Third, the normalization of harm with no recourse. This is not theoretical. It is a real-time shift in the balance of power between public interest and private industry.

A coordinated effort is unfolding in state legislatures and on Capitol Hill to grant legal immunity (liability shields) to agrochemical manufacturers. This means BigAg, BigChem, and BigSeed can hurt you, even kill you, and not just get away with it, but profit from it!

At this very moment, across America, a new wave of legislation seeks to provide legal immunity to chemical companies—removing the right to recourse for harm their products have caused. This “shield” is not just for a niche set of chemicals, but for all pesticides and chemicals regulated under federal law.

The chemical industry has created an unlivable future. Their legacy is one of ecocide, and the destruction of public health. Chemical companies are seeking liability shields because they know the harm their products have already caused. These are not innocent corporations. They have been paid billions of dollars in damages for contaminating water, poisoning land, and causing cancers, birth defects, and lifelong disease.

Monsanto, now owned by Germany’s Bayer, has paid over $10 billion to settle lawsuits linking Roundup (glyphosate) to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Syngenta, a Chinese state-owned company through ChemChina, reached a $187.5 million settlement for paraquat-related Parkinson’s disease claims and is working to settle more cases. Paraquat has been banned in the European Union since 2007, in China for domestic use, and in other countries due to its extreme toxicity. DuPont, 3M, and Chemours (a DuPont spin-off) have collectively paid billions for contaminating water supplies with PFAS, the so-called “forever chemicals,” which the EU is now moving to comprehensively ban.

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