Supporters of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are warning that a new House Appropriations bill includes a provision that would shield pesticide manufacturers from legal liability.
“Big Ag lobbyists are quietly working to slip liability shields for pesticide companies into law. If it passes, Big Ag will be free to poison you with ZERO accountability,” MAHA Action, a pro-Kennedy nonprofit, tweeted Thursday.
🚨MAHA leaders are sounding the alarm—everything is on the line right now!
Big Ag lobbyists are quietly working to slip liability shields for pesticide companies into law.
If it passes, Big Ag will be free to poison you with ZERO accountability.
Thread🧵 pic.twitter.com/cCReZTEX1t
— MAHA Action (@MAHAAction) July 24, 2025
At the core of the nonprofit’s concern is section 453 of the House Appropriations Committee’s Fiscal Year 2026 Interior and Environment Appropriations Act.
Section 453 reads as follows:
“None of the funds made available by this or any other Act may be used to issue or adopt any guidance or any policy, take any regulatory action, or approve any labeling or change to such labeling that is inconsistent with or in any respect different from the conclusion of (a) a human health assessment performed pursuant to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act … or (b) a carcinogenicity classification for a pesticide.”
Advocates warn that Section 453 will prevent American citizens who suffer from diseases potentially caused by pesticides from suing the manufacturers. (RELATED: Georgia Jury Awards Plaintiff $2 Billion From Big Pharma Company Bayer In Latest MAHA Win)
“It’s very tricky language that they put in there so that a lot of the congresspeople don’t understand that this is effectively a liability shield,” Kelly Ryerson, the founder of American Regenerative and Glyphosate Facts, said in a video MAHA Action posted to X.
Ryerson pointed to the numerous state-level bills, such as Georgia’s, that have already granted manufacturers liability protection at the state level.
Kelly Ryerson, aka Glyphosate Girl, gave a clear breakdown of what’s really going on.
It’s not total immunity, but it functions as a powerful liability shield for pesticide companies.
“You guys have seen this egregious reach into state legislatures to pass immunity shields at… pic.twitter.com/rZnthy5fi3
— MAHA Action (@MAHAAction) July 24, 2025
“You guys have seen this egregious reach into state legislatures to pass immunity shields at the state level,” she said, adding, “If you get sick, you cannot sue in state court and that has passed in Georgia and North Dakota.”
Tony Lyons, the co-founder of the MAHA PAC (originally named American Values PAC), and a close ally to Kennedy Jr., said 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”
MAHA Action CEO Tony Lyons didn’t mince words.
He said stopping Section 453—a pesticide immunity shield for Big Ag—should be MAHA’s top priority right now.
“There couldn’t be anything that is more important to MAHA than making sure that we don’t have pesticide liability… pic.twitter.com/JNc1w1h66S
— MAHA Action (@MAHAAction) July 24, 2025
Dr. Robert Malone, a recent addition to the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), compared the alleged liability to a 1986 bill which he claimed granted vaccine makers similar immunity.
Dr. Robert Malone joined the call with a blunt warning.
If the 1986 vaccine immunity deal made you angry, this pesticide bill should enrage you.
“What we’re encountering here is something that is right at the heart of the MAHA movement, even more than the vaccine agenda.”… pic.twitter.com/w287oJBNMb
— MAHA Action (@MAHAAction) July 24, 2025
Section 453’s language will force the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct lengthy risk assessments before updating warning labels for pesticides, a process that can take up to 15 years according to agronomy consultant Sam Knowlton.
While MAHA takes a victory lap to celebrate Coca Cola’s shift to cane sugar, section 453 of the FY 2026 Interior-Environment Appropriations Bill quietly advanced.
This provision will grant pesticide manufacturers immunity from failure-to-warn lawsuits and will lock our food and… pic.twitter.com/NWOpcq5iXH
— Sam Knowlton (@samdknowlton) July 25, 2025
Others in MAHA are perturbed that the Appropriations Committee vote was anonymous, preventing them from knowing who precisely voted in favor of Section 453.
“This is insane!” popular X account End Tribalism tweeted.
The account posted a video of Republican Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, counting the anonymous votes on an amendment to remove Section 453 from the bill.
“When an amendment was introduced to remove it, the chairman didn’t count votes—he just listened to the ‘Ayes’ and ‘Noes,’” End Tribalism continued.
This is insane!
Section 453 in the House appropriations bill, as many in MAHA have been speaking about, gives pesticide companies a partial liability shield.
When an amendment was introduced to remove it, the chairman didn’t count votes—he just listened to the “Ayes” and “Noes”… pic.twitter.com/3ROnxQJ8k7
— End Tribalism in Politics (@EndTribalism) July 25, 2025
“There was no recorded vote, and we have no idea what the actual vote count was. We don’t know who supported removing the shield and who backed it. This is not how government is supposed to work,” End Tribalism concluded.
“THEY KNEW IT WOULDN’T SURVIVE A FLOOR VOTE So they hid it,” another popular X account, Beef Initiative, also tweeted.
🚨 THEY KNEW IT WOULDN’T SURVIVE A FLOOR VOTE
So they hid it.
⚠️ Section 453 — Blocks lawsuits against Bayer
☣️ Section 507 — Legalizes PFAS as “fertilizer”
✅ Passed in committee by voice vote
❌ No names. No records.Next stop: Full House vote.https://t.co/oh8OyaEge0
— Beef Initiative 🇺🇸 BeefMaps.com (@beefinitiative) July 25, 2025
The next step for the appropriations bill is likely to be going through the House’s Rule Committee before going to the House floor for a full vote.
Ryerson urged MAHA faithful to call their Congresspeople and ask them to vote no unless Section 453 is removed.
“We have this period of time where we can really fight back and get congress on board with us,” she said.
“[Section 453] puts families at risk of losing their right to hold companies accountable when their loved ones get sick and our kids pay the price while chemical giants get richer,” she concluded.