Political attacks stiffen opposition to Missouri bill protecting pesticide makers 

by Rudi Keller, Missouri Independent
February 25, 2025

A direct-mail campaign targeting opponents of a bill intended to shelter Bayer from lawsuits alleging its herbicide Roundup causes cancer appears to be backfiring.

Nine state senators targeted by flyers sent to their constituents held a news conference Tuesday to denounce the effort and say their opposition is growing stronger because of the attacks.

“What is at play right here, right now, is whether or not our farmers should have rights to due process and their Seventh Amendment right to go up against a giant when their health is being compromised without truth in labeling,” said state Sen. Jill Carter, a Republican from Granby.

Missouri House debate shows GOP split over bill to protect pesticide makers

Last week, the Missouri House voted 85-72 to pass a bill filed by state Rep. Dane Diehl, a Republican from Butler, that would make the label required by federal pesticide regulators “sufficient to satisfy any requirement for a warning label regarding cancer under any other provision of current law.”

The narrow vote — only three more than the minimum needed for passage — and the 24 Republicans who voted against it shows the depth of the split over the legislation within the GOP supermajority.

The direct mail pieces aren’t helping heal those divisions, Diehl said in an interview with The Independent.

“The timing of these pieces, or these mailers, have surely made this process even more convoluted,” Diehl said.

The sponsor of identical legislation in the upper chamber, state Sen. Justin Brown, a Republican from Rolla, agreed.

“They’re not helping us,” he said. “They’re hurting us. I knew they would, and I’m sure that’s why they were sent. I think the motivation behind those flyers was to try to kill this bill.”

 The direct mail pieces have been arriving in mailboxes for about a week, senators said at the news conference. The nine participating senators suspect Bayer is paying for the flyers but have no solid evidence.

“We are going to talk to the Missouri Ethics Commission and see what we can do legally right now about this failure to disclose,” said state Sen. Nick Schroer, a Republican from Defiance. “It’s dark money, through and through.”

Along with Schroer and Carter, the members targeted for the direct mail who took part in the news conference are state Sens. Rick Brattin of Harrisonville, Ben Brown of Washington, David Gregory of Chesterfield, Brad Hudson of Cape Fair, Mike Moon of Granby, Joe Nicola of Independence and Adam Schnelting of St. Charles.

The flyers, essentially identical except for substituting each lawmaker’s name, office telephone number and photo, declare that “President Trump is cracking down on China and needs your help.” They accuse the targeted lawmakers of sitting “on the fence in the fight to protect American agricultural manufacturers and prevent outsourcing of our food supply.”

The back side of the flyer calls for urgent action because “We need to keep Chinese Communist Party chemicals out of our food supply.”

The mailers state they are paid for by the Protecting America Initiative and give a return address in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Federal Election Commission lists it as an “electioneering communication” organization. It does not disclose its donors.

The treasurer listed is the same person who was treasurer of The Stand for US PAC, which last year spent more than $2 million in an unsuccessful effort to boost then-Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft in the Republican primary for governor.

The Protecting America Initiative has also spent about $121,000 on television ads in the central Missouri market since the start of the legislative session, FCC records show.

The legislation filed by Brown and Diehl is intended to protect Bayer from more than 25,000 lawsuits pending in Cole County that allege the manufacturer did not put a label on Roundup warning that it had the potential to cause cancer.

Bayer, a German company, purchased Monsanto, a St. Louis-based company, in 2018. Bayer kept its U.S. headquarters in St. Louis.

The stakes are enormous for Bayer. In 2023 Cole County, three plaintiffs were awarded $1.56 billion, though a judge later reduced that to $622 million.

There are tens of thousands of additional lawsuits pending across the country and Bayer has paid out at least $10 billion for jury awards and settlements.

Bayer did not respond to an email seeking comment on the flyers and whether it helped finance them.

Brown said he doesn’t believe Bayer is funding the flyers.

“Members that are quick to want to kill this bill because they’re getting attacked should follow that money and see who’s actually funding this,” Brown said.

In a news release sent Monday, members of the Missouri Freedom Caucus said they have little doubt that Bayer is behind the messages.

“In a bombastic attempt to silence these principled conservatives, the company has flooded hundreds of thousands of households across their nine Senate districts, with misleading attack mailers, distorting their records and undermining their commitment to protecting Missourians,” the release stated.

In response to the allegation that the nine lawmakers want China to dominate agricultural markets, Hudson filed a bill to ban the sale in Missouri of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers made in China. 

“If we’ve got a situation where we are depending on products from those who would be our enemies in order to be caretakers of our food supply, we’ve got a problem that we need to address,” Hudson said.

While the flyers are sparking opposition now, Brown said he’s committed to passing the bill. He will give tempers time to cool before bringing it up for Senate debate, he said.

Bayer “employs 5,000 people just in one town in Missouri,” Brown said, “and I could see them going somewhere else or just closing that altogether, if we don’t try to do something.”

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.

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