A US Court of Appeals has banned the sale of the Bayer herbicide Dicamba in the United States. The court said yesterday in San Francisco that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has significantly underestimated the risks associated with the herbicide and completely failed to investigate other risks related to dicamba.
The EPA also violated federal law when extending the authorization of the herbicide at the end of 2018. In addition to Bayer, Dicamba is also manufactured by BASF and US rival Corteva. Their products are also affected by the judgment.
Bayer said it did not agree with the verdict and was considering further steps. Depending on the measures taken by the EPA, the group strives to minimize the impact on its customers.
The company is currently working on obtaining new EPA approval for its Dicamba products for the 2021 planting season and beyond, and hope to receive it by autumn. Initially, no opinion was available from BASF.
Farmers: damage to crop
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the use of the weed killer for two more years at the end of 2018. Several environmental protection organizations had acted against this. Dicamba had made headlines after a new composition, according to farmers, had caused significant damage to the harvest.
According to experts, Dicamba evaporated, drifted across the fields and thus reached plants that were not genetically armed. This had sparked a wave of complaints and lawsuits against the manufacturer Monsanto, which Bayer had taken over for around $ 63 billion.
Earlier this year, Bayer and BASF were fined millions in the United States to a US farmer who accused the company of ruining parts of its peach plantations. The two companies had announced that they would appeal against this.
