Farmers in the heartland have filed at least 11 lawsuits in federal court over the last two years against the makers of the herbicide dicamba, alleging the companies that make the weedkiller sold a defective product to farmers despite numerous signs they could damage neighboring crops.
The growers hope to eventually secure a generous settlement to cover millions of dollars of crop losses and the cost of protecting their fields from the continued use of the herbicide. The makers of dicamba say the injury to crops and other plants is not caused by a defect in the weedkillers, but by misuse of the products by farmworkers not following label instructions.
All of the lawsuits name Monsanto Co., the manufacturer of XtendiMax dicamba herbicide and genetically modified cotton and soybeans that can withstand dicamba without dying.
BASF SE, the developer of Engenia weedkiller, is identified as a defendant in nine cases. DuPont Co., which released a similar dicamba product before it merged this past summer with Dow Chemical Co. to become DowDuPont Inc., is a defendant in four of the lawsuits.
The 11 lawsuits were filed in federal district courts in four states: Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, and Kansas.
Read full, original post: Monsanto, BASF, DuPont Face Growing Dicamba Damage Suits
