Dicamba has been the subject of considerable outrage since the release of dicamba-resistant seeds in 2016; the herbicide has a tendency to drift onto neighboring fields and forests, where it kills other plants and crops, causing millions of dollars of damage.
In hearing a case filed by environmental and other groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals vacated dicamba’s EPA approval, effectively saying it should not have been permitted to be used, and that now it will not be.
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After the original ruling, the EPA issued a cancellation order, which permitted the use of existing stocks until the end of July, but that was challenged by the plaintiffs …. [A] panel of Ninth Circuit judges denied that challenge.
This is …. not the ending that the makers of dicamba products, including Bayer, BASF, and Corteva, had envisioned, and some of them don’t intend to just allow one of their most important products to be banned. BASF and Corteva have filed motions to be able to intervene in the appeal of the underlying decision. The original lawsuit named only Bayer, but the ruling affected the other producers of dicamba, too, and they want to have a chance to defend themselves.
The dicamba ordeal is likely to continue through many court battles, given the amount of money at stake for these huge agrochemical corporations.
