05
May
Groups Ask States To Reject Immunity from Lawsuits when Chemical Companies Fail to Warn of Product Hazards
(Beyond Pesticides, May 5, 2025) With North Dakota on April 24 being the first state to enact chemical industry legislation that blocks poisoning victims from suing manufacturers for their failure to warn about their products’ hazards, a national fight over accountability and compensation has escalated. Legislation to quash lawsuits against chemical manufacturers because of their “failure to warn” about the hazards of their pesticide products is being pushed through state legislatures. Failure-to-warn claims serve as the basis for the overwhelming majority of pesticide injury litigation of the past decade, according to legal professionals, including Brigit Rollins, JD, staff attorney at the National Agriculture Law Center. The litigation is also an important check on the chemical industry in a national climate of deregulation and the Trump Administration’s dismantling of environmental and public health programs. “Failure-to-warn” is a legal argument grounded in the common law of state court systems across the nation. “Almost every pesticide injury lawsuit filed in the past ten years has included a claim that the pesticide manufacturer failed to warn the plaintiff of the health risks associated with using their product and that such failure caused the plaintiff’s injury,” says Ms. Rollins. [See below for action steps advocated by Beyond Pesticides and local […]
