FRANKFORT — Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has vetoed a bill that critics say would prevent Kentuckians from suing pesticide companies for failing to warn them of the dangers of their products.
Beshear said this is “dangerous to Kentuckians” and “ignores the health of America.”
Bechar’s Tuesday Veto Message Senate Bill 199, sponsored by Sen. Jason Howell (R-Murray), would “close the public’s access to court to seek damages from the manufacturers of these pesticides, if the products simply carry federal Environmental Protection Agency-approved warning labels.”
“These labels do not warn consumers of the risks of using these pesticides, including the possible risk of chronic diseases such as leukemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and other cancers and chronic diseases. Failure to warn is not enough to shield companies from legitimate lawsuits,” Beshear said.
Supporters of SB 199 include agricultural industry groups, who say the bill would ensure “crop protection tools” are available to farmers amid litigation over these lawsuits. In particular, the company that makes the herbicide Roundup faces thousands of lawsuits from people who claim it causes cancer. World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2015 I found a herbicide “Possibly carcinogenic.”
The bill passed Congress with bipartisan opposition, and amendments narrowed the bill to apply only to pesticides used in agriculture. Republican Co-Chairman of the Congressional Kentucky Task Force on Bringing America Back to Health strongly opposed the bill In the Kentucky House of Representatives.
In his veto message, Beshear cited his time enforcing consumer protection laws as the state’s attorney general and said SB199 leaves it up to the federal government (“the same federal government that approved misleading labels for opioids that destroyed Kentuckians’ lives”) to approve warning labels on products on Kentucky shelves.
The Republican supermajority in the Republican-controlled Legislature can override the governor’s veto with a simple majority in each chamber, and the Kentucky Senate immediately overrode Beshear’s veto of SB199 on Tuesday.
Bill sponsor Howell said in a statement that the Senate’s override of the veto “reaffirms our commitment to Kentucky’s farming community and our common-sense approach to protecting both agriculture and public health by relying on EPA’s guidance on pesticide use.”
This article has been updated with a statement from Sen. Jason Howell (R-Murray).
