Monsanto, DowDuPont, BASF taken to court over dicamba damage to U.S. soybeans

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Farming giants Monsanto, DowDuPont and BASF are facing a fraught legal battle with farmers and environmentalists from three states after the herbicide dicamba was blamed for damage to an estimated 3.6 million acres of soybeans in 2017, Fairwarning reports. Plaintiffs are taking legal action against the three companies and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, accusing the EPA of relying on company research rather than conducting independent safety reviews of dicamba and its risks. Dicamba allegedly destroyed millions of acres of conventional soybeans after “drifting” from dicamba-resistant seeded fields to neighboring farmers’ conventional fields. In an April 9 legal brief, the EPA is requesting the court to uphold the EPA’s conditional approval of Monsanto’s Xtendimax, saying the product “would not generally cause unreasonable adverse effects on the environment” because of its “lower potential” to drift.