MAINE PUBLIC • April 27, 2026
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine's 1st District is spearheading an effort to amend the draft Farm Bill by removing what she said are legal protections for large pesticide producers. At a rally in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Pingree said the bill's current language would override state and local warning label laws for potentially harmful products. Pingree called out the German company Bayer, a major producer of the chemical glyphosate, which some experts have linked to harmful health effects. "They have 53 well-paid lobbyists and are spending millions of dollars lobbying Congress," Pingree said to a crowd of activists. "And that's not to make their products safer. No, it's to protect themselves." The rally was in advance of the U.S. Supreme Court hearing oral arguments on a case that could determine the fate of thousands of lawsuits linking the Bayer herbicide "Roundup" to causing cancer.