House Spending Bill Section 453 Could Grant Immunity to Pesticides Linked to Cancer and Parkinson's

A controversial provision tucked into a House spending bill could grant sweeping legal immunity to pesticide manufacturers for as many as 57,000 chemical products—including those linked to cancer, Parkinson's disease, and infertility—sparking a revolt amongst supporters of President Donald Trump's Make America Healthy Again movement.

Conservative commentator Brett Cooper took to Fox News recently to sound the alarm about House Republicans' efforts to protect pesticide makers, telling the network that the lawmakers' actions were a betrayal of the MAHA movement. 'House Republicans are slipping something into our new spending bill which would give immunity to huge pesticide companies', Cooper said. 'I think it would cover 57,000 different chemicals, and these are chemicals that have been linked to cancer, Parkinson's and infertility, and House Republicans are just slipping it in which feels like they're giving the middle finger to MAHA.'

A Legal Shield for Chemical Giants

The contentious provision, known as Section 453 within the Fiscal Year 2026 Interior-Environment Appropriations Bill, would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from approving a pesticide product label or taking action inconsistent with a human health assessment previously approved by the agency—essentially freezing the EPA's position on a pesticide in place for decades and eliminating the ability to hold companies accountable.

According to advocacy group Beyond Pesticides, the provision would release companies from liability for their 'failure to warn'. Critically, the EPA does not independently test pesticide products—it relies heavily on studies submitted by the manufacturers themselves, creating a conflict of interest.

The liability shield was added to the bill as a policy rider, a common legislative tactic where major policy changes are tucked into must-pass funding bills without going through regular legislative processes, avoiding public hearings, debate and standalone votes.

Bayer's Billion-Dollar Motivation

Companies like Bayer, which now owns Monsanto—maker of Roundup—and Syngenta, owned by the Chinese state-owned ChemChina, have faced billions in liability for products linked to cancer and other health harms. Bayer has spent over $11 billion settling more than 100,000 cancer lawsuits related to their Roundup product, whose active ingredient glyphosate was determined to be 'probably carcinogenic to humans' by the World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Earlier this year, North Dakota became the first state to pass pesticide immunity legislation, with Georgia following suit in May 2025. Both laws took effect in early 2026.

MAHA Movement Erupts in Opposition

Tony Lyons, co-founder of the MAHA PAC and close ally to Robert F Kennedy Jr, said that stopping Section 453 should be MAHA's top priority. 'There couldn't be anything that is more important to MAHA than making sure that we don't have pesticide liability protection for big corporations', Lyons said.

Others in MAHA expressed outrage that the Appropriations Committee vote was anonymous, preventing them from knowing who precisely voted in favour of Section 453. Stand For Health Freedom warned that Section 453 covers all pesticides registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act—over 57,000 currently registered products—as well as all future chemicals, including herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and common household items like bug spray, disinfectant wipes, and ant traps.

Senate Initially Rejected Provision

The Senate Appropriations Committee convened a full markup on 24 July 2025, which did not include these provisions when the bill passed out of committee. However, with Congress now facing a 30 January 2026 deadline to finalise nine remaining fiscal 2026 spending bills, advocates warn that the provision could resurface during negotiations.

In response, Senator Cory Booker introduced the Pesticide Injury Accountability Act on 17 July 2025, which would create a federal right of action for individuals harmed by pesticides, even when products have been federally approved.

Far-Reaching Consequences for Public Health

Section 453 represents a fundamental shift in accountability with far-reaching consequences for American families. By preventing the EPA from updating warning labels even when new scientific evidence emerges, the provision would lock in potentially obsolete science for years whilst assessment processes that can take up to 12 years play out. Pesticide exposure has been attributed to heightened risk of severe health conditions, including various cancers, neurological disorders, reproductive disorders, and obesity.

Pesticide residue has been widely detected in Americans, with some studies finding residue in 100 per cent of US urine samples. The provision's scope—covering tens of thousands of products from agricultural pesticides to household cleaning supplies—means virtually every American household could be affected, particularly vulnerable populations including pregnant women, children, and farmworkers who face higher levels of exposure.