Dicamba, sold under different brand names by BASF and DuPont, can vaporize under certain conditions and the wind can blow it into nearby crops and other plants. The herbicide can damage or even kill crops that have not been genetically engineered to resist it.
To prevent that from happening, Monsanto created a 4,550-word label with detailed instructions. Its complexity is now being cited by farmers and critics of the product…At stake for Monsanto is the fate of Xtend soybeans, it largest ever biotech seed launch.
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“The restriction on these labels is unlike anything that’s ever been seen before,” said Bob Hartzler, an agronomy professor and weed specialist at Iowa State University.
The label instructions are also of interest to lawyers for farmers suing Monsanto, BASF and DuPont over damage they attribute to the potent weed killer moving off-target to nearby plants.
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A civil lawsuit filed against the companies in federal court in St. Louis last month alleged it might be impossible to properly follow the label. Restrictions on wind speed, for example, do not allow for timely sprayings over the top of growing soybeans, according to the complaint.
The companies failed “to inform the EPA that their label instructions were unrealistic,” the lawsuit said.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: U.S. farmers confused by Monsanto weed killer’s complex instructions
