Products Liability Actions Under the Florida Pesticide Law

Plain English Breakdown

Checked against official source text during the last sync.

Florida Pesticide Law Changes

This law stops people from suing pesticide makers if the warning labels on their products meet certain conditions set by federal rules.

What This Bill Does

• Creates a new rule that says you can't sue a company for not putting enough warnings on a pesticide label if the EPA has approved the label.
• Requires the label to be consistent with the most recent health risk assessment done under FIFRA (Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act).
• Also requires the label to match what the EPA says about how likely the pesticide is to cause cancer.
• Does not protect companies if they hide important information from the EPA to get their labels approved.

Who It Names or Affects

• Pesticide manufacturers and sellers in Florida.
• People who might want to sue a company for not warning them about dangers of pesticides.

Terms To Know

FIFRA

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. It's the law that controls how pesticides are made and sold in the U.S.

EPA

Environmental Protection Agency. A government agency that makes rules to protect the environment and public health.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill only affects lawsuits based on warning labels, not other kinds of product issues.
• It's unclear how this will affect future cases or if it will change how companies make pesticide labels.

Official Summary Text

Products Liability Actions Under the Florida Pesticide Law; Prohibiting a pesticide-related products liability action based on a manufacturer’s failure to warn if the pesticide’s label meets specified conditions, etc.

Current Bill Text

Florida Senate
-
2026

SB 518

By
Senator Truenow

13-00985-26 2026518__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to products liability actions under
3 the Florida Pesticide Law; creating s. 487.082, F.S.;
4 prohibiting a pesticide-related products liability
5 action based on a manufacturer’s failure to warn if
6 the pesticide’s label meets specified conditions;
7 providing an exception; providing an effective date.
8
9 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
10
11 Section 1. Section 487.082, Florida Statutes, is created to
12 read:
13
487.082

Products liability actions.—A products liability

14
action under this part based on a failure to warn may not be

15
brought or maintained with respect to any pesticide registered

16
with the United States Environmental Protection Agency under the

17
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), 7

18
U.S.C. ss. 136 et seq., if the label for such pesticide is:

19
(1)

Approved by the United States Environmental Protection

20
Agency;

21
(2)

Consistent with the most recent human health risk

22
assessment performed under FIFRA; or

23
(3)

Consistent with the United States Environmental

24
Protection Agency’s carcinogenicity classification of the

25
pesticide under FIFRA.

26
27
However, this section does not shield from liability a

28
manufacturer that the United States Environmental Protection

29
Agency determines knowingly withheld, concealed, misrepresented,

30
or destroyed material information regarding the human health

31
risks or carcinogenicity of a pesticide in order to obtain or

32
maintain approval of the label for the pesticide by the United

33
States Environmental Protection Agency.

34 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.