“Key pesticide issues have not been debated in the House for a very long time,” Jason Davidson, senior food and agriculture advocate for Friends of the Earth USA, said in a statement. “For people to win over the size, influence and money of the pesticide industry is a remarkable show of grassroots power and a tremendous victory for the ability of Americans to hold these companies accountable.”
The House vote came just days after critics of pesticides held a “People Against Poison” rally outside the US Supreme Court as the justices listened. Arguments in Monsanto Corporation v. Dornelwhich is expected to have sweeping effects on cancer patients trying to outcompete the maker of the weedkiller Roundup, whose main active ingredient is glyphosate.
Bayer – which bought Monsanto in 2018 – and the US Environmental Protection Agency insist that glyphosate is safe, although the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer says… classified It has been considered a possible human carcinogen for more than a decade.
Although President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to “Make America Healthy Again,” he has often served up the pesticide industry, including by siding with Bayer in the case before the Supreme Court and signing an executive order in February mandating the production of glyphosate — an action that also included a liability shield.
Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) on Wednesday introduced the No Glyphosate Immunity Act to reverse Trump’s order. The bill’s main sponsors in the House, Reps. Thomas Massey (R-Ky.) and Chili Pingri (Democrat from Maine), were among those who cheered passage of the Luna Amendment on Thursday.
“Pesticide addiction in industrial agriculture is poisoning America,” said Rebecca Wolf, senior food policy analyst at Food and Water Watch. “From the fields of Iowa to the halls of Congress, advocates have made our voices clear: Bayer’s harsh campaign against cancer has no place in our communities. American agricultural policy must support farmers and consumers, not corporate overlords who pull the strings at our expense.”
Wolf’s group applauded the defeat of the pesticide language, but remains concerned about the EATS/Save Our Bacon Act, conservation cuts, and the Farm Bill’s failure to reverse the One Big Beautiful Bill’s so-called attack on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
“This farm bill has the fingerprints of industry everywhere. By shrinking markets for high-welfare, sustainable farmers, and doubling down on devastating cuts to federal food aid, this pro-factory farm bill will do more harm than good,” Wolf warned. “It’s time to end the corporate power grab in Washington. This farm bill should be dead when it reaches the Senate.”
Earthjustice Action’s Legislative Director for Healthy Communities, Ranjani Prabhakar, was also critical, saying that “by passing the deeply flawed Farm Bill, House Republicans are doubling down on an approach that puts polluting corporations before farmers, families, and our environment. This legislation weakens long-term protections for endangered species and critical ecosystems and deprives funding for conservation programs that help farmers fight climate change.”
Prabhakar said the “overwhelming support” for the Luna Amendment “is proof that the Farm Bill should strengthen our food system, support farmers, and protect public health — not serve as a vehicle for corporate giveaways. We urge the Senate to reject this harmful bill and work toward a solution that truly invests in resilient agriculture, healthy communities, and a sustainable future.”
Progressive lawmakers also criticized the broader bill. “The farm bill represents a real opportunity to help farmers and Americans across this country,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), “yet Republicans are using it as cover to pass permanent cuts to food aid, even as food prices continue to rise dramatically.”
“While we take food away from hungry children, this bill also leaves American farmers without a lifeline after losing billions thanks to Trump’s tariffs,” she said, referring to the SNAP cuts. “Ultimately, this bill will make more people hungry and does nothing to address the affordability crisis or struggling workers.”
While welcoming that the legislation no longer protects pesticide manufacturers from liability for their products, Jayapal charged that “today’s farm bill represents another betrayal of the American people.”
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