Missouri House backs legal shield for weedkiller maker facing thousands of cancer-related lawsuits

The Missouri House has passed legislation that could protect chemical manufacturer Bayer from some lawsuits alleging a popular weedkiller causes cancer. The legislation comes as Bayer faces tens of thousands of lawsuits claiming it failed to warn people that the key ingredient in Roundup could cause cancer. Bayer disputes those claims. And the federal Environmental Protection Agency has not required that on product labels. Bayer supplied wording for the Missouri bill that would shield pesticide companies from “failure to warn” claims if they follow federal labeling requirements. The bill now goes to the Senate. Similar bills failed in Iowa and Idaho.