Seth Tupper, Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight
Legislation affecting the regulation of pesticide labels has become an issue in South Dakota’s U.S. House race after a Democratic challenger leveled criticism at incumbent Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson.
The Washington Post reported in June that Rep. Johnson worked with biotech giant Bayer to insert a provision into a draft of the federal farm bill. According to legal and environmental experts interviewed by the Post, the provision could help shield Bayer from lawsuits alleging that frequent use of its Roundup herbicide causes cancer.
Rep. Johnson is seeking reelection to a fourth term. His opponent in the Nov. 5 general election is Sheryl Johnson, a Democrat.
Sheryl Johnson alleged in a press release Thursday that Rep. Johnson is “putting the interests of large corporations above the health and safety of our people.”
Rep. Johnson answered questions from South Dakota Searchlight on Wednesday at the Sioux Empire Fair in Sioux Falls.
“Our legislation doesn’t do anything in the courts,” Rep. Johnson said. “If somebody’s got a legitimate claim in court today, there isn’t anything that we would do to adjust their claim from a backward-looking perspective.”
He did not address the forward impact of the legislation. The Post reported that Bayer is “hoping to erect a blockade against future lawsuits.”
Bayer’s role
Roundup was originally produced by Monsanto, which was acquired by Bayer in 2018. Users ranging from homeowners to farmers apply Roundup by the hundreds of millions of pounds annually to kill weeds. Some seeds sold to farmers are genetically modified to tolerate Roundup.
Bayer has already faced expensive litigation from plaintiffs alleging links between Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, and cancer. In 2020, the company agreed to pay approximately $10 billion to settle lawsuits involving roughly 125,000 claims, without an admission of wrongdoing.
Rep. Johnson, in answer to Searchlight questions on Wednesday, did not deny working with Bayer.
“Listen, anytime you’re writing legislation, you need to be talking to a broad cross-section of stakeholders,” he said. “Shame on any member of Congress who thinks they have all of the answers and just goes in and tries to make law for the whole country without talking to people who were affected.”
Sheryl Johnson’s news release referenced Searchlight’s Wednesday story about Rep. Johnson’s comments.
“While he talks about consulting ‘the people affected,’ he fails to recognize the most critical stakeholders — those who have cancer as a result of exposure to Roundup,” Sheryl Johnson said. “These people, many of whom are South Dakotans, deserve more than just lip service. They deserve justice and accountability.”
Rep. Johnson: Uniformity is goal
Rep. Johnson has described his provision in the farm bill as providing “uniformity” in pesticide labeling. The provision would reaffirm the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s legal authority over pesticide labeling requirements, and squash attempts by individual states — including California — to impose their own labeling rules.
California has attempted to require a label on Roundup warning users that glyphosate causes cancer. That requirement has been blocked in federal court.
The EPA does not classify glyphosate as cancer-causing, but plans to reevaluate that position in 2026. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
Rep. Johnson declined a follow-up request Thursday from Searchlight for another on-the-record interview. He instead provided a written statement reiterating that his pesticide labeling provision would ensure labels are “consistent across the country, consistent with federal law, and consistent with EPA’s science-based process.”
“There is a reason the Constitution calls for Congress to regulate interstate commerce,” the statement said. “Having 50 different and competing product labeling requirements across the country would be a mess. That’s why I’ve supported a variety of labeling legislation, especially in the agricultural and food arena.”
He noted the provision has support from colleagues of both parties, and that 11 state attorneys general — including South Dakota’s — urged the EPA this week to prevent a patchwork of state regulations on farm chemicals.
Challenger has ‘serious questions’
Sheryl Johnson criticized her opponent’s rationale and questioned his motivation.
“By advocating for federal-only oversight in this case, Dusty Johnson is effectively putting the interests of large corporations above the health and safety of our people,” Sheryl Johnson said. “His selective advocacy for federal oversight raises serious questions about whose interests he’s really serving.”
Data compiled by Open Secrets, a nonprofit that tracks money in politics, shows that Rep. Johnson’s campaign committee has received $4,000 from political action committees affiliated with Bayer this election cycle, and $1,000 in each of the 2020 and 2022 cycles.
Open Secrets also reports a combined $11.83 million of lobbying spending by Bayer or its affiliates in 2023 and 2024.
The House has not yet scheduled a vote on its 1,000-page farm bill. The current version of the bill expires Sept. 30.