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By Clint Thompson
The 2025 Georgia State Legislative Session continues, and two proposed bills are hoping to protect the state’s agricultural sector by clarifying pesticide labeling.
SB 144 and HB 424 passed unanimously through the Agriculture Committees.
The purpose of SB 144, sponsored by Sen. Sam Watson, is to clarify what pesticide manufacturers are obligated to include on their product label warnings as mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Legislation hopes to prevent costly litigation that can increase the price of food production.
Rep. Steven Meeks’ bill HB 424 works to ensure manufacturers are not held liable for failing to warn consumers of health risks beyond those that are scientifically accurate and required by the EPA.
Georgia Agribusiness Council President Will Bentley
Georgia Agribusiness Council (GAC) President Will Bentley highlighted the bills and their importance to the state’s specialty crop producers.
“This is our attempt to protect the pesticides that we have that are vital to growing fruits and vegetables and other crops in the state of Georgia. When you look at our growing environment, it seems like we can grow a lot of weeds pretty easily if we were to lose the use of those herbicides. They’re just vitally important to our growers in our state,” Bentley said. “It’s really a fairly simple bill that opponents to it are trying to complicate and make it about overuse of pesticides and other things like that, which this bill does not do.
“It’s a simple labeling bill that basically reiterates the FIFRA (Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act) is the law of the land. Requirements for labeling imposed on pesticide manufacturers should stand and states should not come in and have 50 different labeling laws. We’re trying to make it simpler for farmers, simpler for manufacturers and retailers to say; when FIFRA says this is a safe product, this is what the research says and this is what is required to be put on the label as a warning and a structure for how you are to use this product, then that’s the law of the land and Georgia should stand behind those labels so we don’t overcomplicate this thing.”