DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa farmer Jim Heuberger started working on his family's farm, just north of Sheffield, when he was a teenager.
Part of his regular maintenance routine included using Roundup weed killer around the property.
“We used Roundup because it was a very good product for killing weeds and burning everything down," Heuberger told Local 5. "We used it a lot of areas, we had 400 acres of soybeans."
But in 2022, after moving just north to Mason City, Heuberger was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the same cancer his father had years prior.
“My doctor read through the charts, my dad’s, and he knew my history," Heuberger said. "He looked at us, and he said, ‘It’s Roundup.'"
His doctor believed that the industrial version of the herbicide product, which most farmers use rather than the store-bought version, directly caused his cancer.
According to the Iowa Cancer Consortium, the main active ingredient used in Roundup, Glophosate, is a "known or suspected carcinogen." The World Health Organization came to the same conclusion back in 2015, stating that the herbicide is "probably carcinogenic to humans."
“The companies that are making these big bucks, they have to say that this is dangerous, and they can’t get away with putting things out that are dangerous for people," said Heuberger's wife, Becky.
Since 2020, Roundup's parent company Bayer has spent more than $10 billion to settle lawsuits claiming their product causes cancer, per the Associated Press. Bayer purchased Monsanto, the original manufacturer of Roundup, in 2018, and the Heubergers filed their own lawsuit against Monsanto in 2021.
However, new legislation moving through the Iowa Senate would make it more difficult for Iowans to sue pesticide companies over health problems potentially caused by their products.
The bill, Senate File 2392, states that manufacturers would have a "defense from civil liability," since the herbicide is approved by the EPA and has a federally-approved warning label.
In a statement to Local 5, Bayer said their company “supports the legislation alongside dozens of other agricultural organizations. . . money invested in litigation costs could otherwise be invested into research and development.”
The Heuburgers want the company to do more.
"I just hate to see a big company that has made billions not be responsible," Heuberger said. "I'm sure that they have probably known for many years, and it's a pity that a lot of people have to go through it."
The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, the Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Soybean Association have all registered in support of the bill, which is expected to be considered on the Senate floor in the coming days.