Florida Pushes to Silence Pesticide Critics

Florida is trying to limit America's freedom of speech to question the safety of pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals. Section 48 of Florida Senate Bill 290 wants to give agricultural and pesticide producers a right of action to sue people for questioning whether agricultural products such as pesticides are safe for human consumption. The bill would allow pesticide producers to target and sue individuals for what they deem to be defamatory statements with a two year statute of limitations.

Senate Bill 290 was introduced by Florida Senate Agriculture Chair Keith Truenow who received $3,000 in lobbying from US Sugar Corp and who owns a turf and grass installation company. Sugar production relies on herbicides like 2-4D and grass production relies on weedkillers like glyphosate and Dicamba which are all facing increased scrutiny and litigation.

After thousands of you helped pause Senate Bill 290, House Bill 433 started to quickly push forward. Section 47 of House Bill 433 is identical to Section 48 of Senate Bill 290 and is the the agrochemical industry's newest effort to protect their chemicals. 

House Bill 433 was introduced by Florida Representative Danny Alvarez and Randy Maggard, who both received lobbying from US Sugar Corp and Southern Garden Citrus Holding Corp. House Bill 433 already passed the Agriculture & Natural Resources Budget Subcommittee and will next be voted on by the State Affairs Committee.

Here are talking points for speaking with the Florida representatives.

1). Pesticide producers have consistently misrepresented, downplayed, and withheld data on the carcinogenic and reproductive harms of their chemicals.

2). Pesticide producers submit their own labels for review that the EPA does not put to the test. Pesticide producers such as Monsanto and Bayer (which are now one company) continually lead attacks on scientists and journalists who present new data questioning the safety of the chemicals. 

3). Without rigorous public scrutiny, criticism, and testing, pesticide producers would be left unchecked. Last month, the scientific journal Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology officially retracted a landmark study from the year 2000 that claimed the weed killer glyphosate was safe for human health. The paper, which concluded glyphosate posed no cancer risk, was ghostwritten by Monsanto employees to falsify safety. Just this week, Dr. Daniele Mandrioli was terminated as the Director of the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center in Bologna, Italy. Dr. Mandrioli led the global glyphosate study which found that glyphosate can cause multiple types of cancer at exposure levels corresponding to the European Union acceptable daily intake and the European Union no-adverse effect level. Discoveries like these which protect public health would face threat of lawsuits if Senate Bill 290 passes. 

4). Americans are protected under our first Amendment right to criticize and question the safety of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. 

Here is the link to the Florida House State Affairs Committee. Phone number (850) 717-4890. 

Contact Information for Chair William Cloud "Will" Robinson, , Jr. - (850) 717-5071 and (941) 242-8430

Vice Chair James Vernon "Jim" Mooney, Jr. - (850) 717-5120 (305) 315-0780

Republican Committee Whip Philip Wayne "Griff" Griffitts, Jr. (850) 717-5006 (850) 804-1950

Democratic Ranking Member Dr. Anna  V. Eskamani - (850) 717-5042 (407) 633-3640