Senate Bill 199 would amend Kentucky law so that for any pesticide registered with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, an EPA-approved label is sufficient to meet a company’s “duty to warn” users about risks, such as potential cancer or health hazards.
Put simply: the bill would block liability claims against pesticide manufacturers — even if exposure causes harm — as long as the product’s label is EPA-approved.
Why SB 199 is Harmful
- Limits Protections for Citizens: People harmed by pesticides could lose the right to sue, even if the product causes real harm, just because the EPA approved its label.
- Reduces Meaningful State Oversight: Federal pesticide labels may not account for new science or real-world risks.
- Still Covers Too Much: The House amendment does not fix the core problem—farmworkers and consumers using these products in their gardens or homes remain at risk. EPA-approved labels do not warn about chronic health risks including cancer, leukemia, and Parkinson's.
📢 LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: March 18, 2026
This bill already passed the Senate once, but the House amended it on March 18, 2026. Now it goes back to the Senate for a final concurrence vote.
The House amendment does not address the core problem: pesticides with EPA-approved labels can still be purchased and used by consumers, yet those labels are not required by the EPA to warn of chronic disease risks such as cancer or non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
As the Solicitor General noted in Monsanto Company v. Hardeman: "Neither FIFRA nor its implementing regulations... specifically address warnings for chronic health risks like carcinogenicity. No FIFRA provision nor EPA regulation either requires or precludes warnings about harm a pesticide may cause to human health through long-term exposure."
Contact your State Senator immediately and tell them to vote NO on SB 199.
The Sierra Club Kentucky Chapter and the Kentucky Resources Council have sent a joint letter to all House members opposing SB 199. Head to the KRC website to read the full letter.
