Ray Bickel spent over a decade driving a truck through giant corn and soybean fields in Clinton County, Iowa, applying pesticides. He says it was good work, while it lasted.

In 2017, he had a heart attack. The doctors ran tests to find out what caused it and found something else. "He was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, which is blood and bone marrow cancer. And he was diagnosed with stage three rectal cancer," his wife, Margarette Bickel, said.

Doctors suggested it could be because of his years working with Roundup, a widely-used herbicide. Now he is one of many farmers suing the maker, Monsanto, which is owned by Bayer.

"It was a very successful chemical," Ray Bickel said, claiming it did the job — controlling weeds and producing good crops. "It worked well for the farmers. I actually liked to spray it."

Bickel worked with Roundup from 1974 to 1988 at various farms, according to his complaint.

Farmers use herbicides like Roundup to kill weeds, preventing them from destroying crops. They plant genetically modified corn and soybeans that are resistant to the chemical, and when it's sprayed, the weeds die while the crops flourish. Herbicides like Roundup are widely used on American corn and soybean farms.

"Roundup, glyphosate, has been a major, if not the only, product that we use. It helps preserve the soil, helps keep the water cleaner, and so we need to have that," said Dave Struthers, district five director for the Iowa Soybean Association. "It's been a low-cost, effective product. We need to keep using it."

But in recent years, Bayer, which now manufactures Roundup, has faced approximately 181,000 lawsuits claiming that this pesticide, particularly its main ingredient, glyphosate, causes personal injuries, including cancer.

To combat the onslaught of litigation, Bayer has been pushing legislation in nine states, including Iowa and Missouri, that would shield the company from liability.

Bickel filed a lawsuit against Bayer in 2024, claiming his exposure to it caused him to get cancer. While the process has just started, his family hopes to get justice, if not reclaim lost time.

Margarette Bickel said the cancer has already taken years off his life. "It is terminal, so we know what's going to happen at some point," she said.

Proposed law shields manufacturers

Currently, the label on Roundup does not include warnings about potential carcinogenic effects or requirements to use personal protective equipment beyond regular clothing.