New poll reveals Iowans' distrust of chemical companies as legislation seeks to protect them

By Meghan MacPherson

March 28, 2025 via We Are Iowa News

Of the 875 registered Iowa voters polled, 87% of Republican respondents opposed granting liability immunity to chemical companies.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Newly-released polling from the American Association for Justice shows Iowans' distrust of chemical companies as legislation serving to protect them is moving along at the statehouse. 

Senate Republicans are once again pushing a piece of legislation that would shield pesticide companies from warning label lawsuits, so long as their product has a federally approved label. 

Attorney Darin Luneckas has worked with a number of Iowans diagnosed with a condition linked to glyphosate, the active ingredient in popular weed killers like Roundup. 

"To do this in Iowa makes zero sense," Luneckas told Local 5. "We're going to specifically target our customers who get sick as the ones who don't have access to justice because of another type of corporate immunity."

Of the 875 registered Iowa voters polled, 87% of Republican respondents oppose granting liability immunity to chemical companies.

94% of respondents said they're concerned with the EPA's reliance on studied provided or conducted by the chemical companies themselves.

"To give that to the EPA, and the EPA had to rely on their research to say whether or not the warning is needed, that's not a good way to keep people safe," Luneckas said.

Local 5 also checked in with Iowa farmer Jim Hueberger, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2022. His father was diagnosed with the same cancer years prior.

Hueberger is now in remission, but a two-year legal battle continues as his lawsuit against the original manufacturer of Roundup, Monsanto, is still making its way through the court system. 

Senate lawmakers narrowly passed the bill Wednesday, advancing it to the House. Similar legislation failed to reach the House debate floor last session.