The 2026 Farm Bill just dropped, and as expected, it contains a clause that gives chemical companies de facto immunity from lawsuits.

Unfortunately, the Farm Bill still includes a liability shield provision – Section 10205 – that does nothing to reign in pesticide approvals or preserve the ability of people to sue chemical companies when they market dangerous pesticides like glyphosate. In fact, this liability shield is more expansive than the one introduced last Farm Bill, shielding companies from liability not only when chemicals cause disastrous human health impacts, but when their products destroy soils and crops

This bill does nothing to crack down on bad actors. It merely references longstanding authority for EPA to pursue “unlawful acts” by any pesticide manufacturer, an authority it has almost never used, even when foundational studies are shown to be the product of fraud.

OTHER PESTICIDE PROVISIONS:

Sec. 10204: Extends a statutory deadline requiring EPA to re-review all pesticides until 2031, allowing unsafe chemicals to remain on the market and delaying much-needed endocrine screenings for dozens of hormone-disrupting chemicals.

Sec. 10206: Bans local governments from implementing local pesticide restrictions, meaning that hundreds of towns and cities across the country will lose protections put in place to stop glyphosate use in schools, playgrounds, and community parks.

Sec. 10207: Loosens restrictions on pesticides sprayed directly into bodies of water, threatening safe drinking water by allowing excess chemical contamination.

Pesticide preemption is Secs. 10205 and 10206 of the bill was released

SEC. 10205. UNIFORMITY OF PESTICIDE LABELING REQUIREMENTS. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 24(b) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (7 U.S.C.  136v

(b) shall be applied to require uniformity in pesticide labeling nationally, and to prohibit any State, instrumentality or political subdivision thereof, or a court from directly or indirectly imposing or continuing in effect any requirements for, or penalize or hold liable any entity for failing to comply with requirements that would require labeling or packaging that is in addition to or different from the labeling or packaging approved by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Administrator’’) under such Act (7 U.S.C. 136 et seq.), including any requirements relating to warnings on such labeling or packaging, provided that the entity is not in material violation of subparagraph (M), (Q), or (R) of section 12(a)(2) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 136j(a)(2)), for which the entity has been penalized pursuant to section 14 of such Act (7 U.S.C. 136l). (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to alter or diminish the authority of States under subsections (a) and (c) of section 24 of 2 the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act 3 (7 U.S.C. 136v). 4 

SEC. 10206. AUTHORITY OF STATES.  Section 24 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and  Rodenticide Act (7 U.S.C. 136v) is amended— 

(1) in the section heading by inserting ‘‘AND  LOCALITIES’’ after ‘‘STATES’’; and 

(2) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘(d) LOCAL REGULATION.—A political subdivision of a State shall not impose, or continue in effect, any requirement relating to the sale, distribution, labeling, application, or use of any pesticide or device that is subject to regulation— ‘‘(1) by a State pursuant to this section; or ‘‘(2) by the Administrator under this Act.’’. 

The full text of the bill can be found here.

View a short overview here and a title-by-title summary here.

Our current call to action is to email the House AG Committee

You can find your representative from other states here, who also need to hear from us, as it will go to them next for a full floor vote.

Tell them you want them to vote NO on the Farm Bill as long as any language remains regarding changes to pesticide labeling, state or federally.

Retain state rights and citizen rights for accountability of corporations!

It is especially important to focus on House Ag Committee Republicans - who should be supporting their President to MAHA and REDUCE our exposure to toxic pesticides that are causing childhood chronic illness and autism, not give the chemical companies carte blanche to poison us with impunity!

Please use this link to email them today.

Thank you!

Zen Honeycutt and MAA Team