The federal court of Cape Girardeau, in Missouri (United States), condemned the German groups Bayer and BASF to pay compensation of 265 million dollars (244 million euros) to a farmer reproaching their pesticide dicamba d ' having destroyed its peach orchards.
The decision was made on Saturday, following a request from Bill Bader that the two companies were encouraging growers to use dicamba irresponsibly.
Controversial pesticide
Dicamba is a popular but controversial pesticide for its tendency to kill crops in neighboring fields. It spreads easily and kills unsuitable plants.
According to the Bloomberg agency, this is the first lawsuit in the United States concerning the pesticide dicamba. Like RoundUp, another controversial pesticide marketed by Monsanto, dicamba has been on the market for many years. Farmers across the United States have filed a lawsuit against Bayer for dicamba losses.
Precise instructions
This court decision comes after another case in which Bayer was condemned by a Californian jury to pay 290 million dollars (267 million) to a gardener suffering from an incurable cancer, for not having sufficiently informed of the dangerousness of RoundUp. .
Bayer, who argued that dicamba was safe for crops as long as users followed the instructions, plans to appeal the decision, while BASF was not immediately available to react. Bayer bought the American giant GMO and seeds, Monsanto, in 2018 and had to sell part of its agrochemical activities to BASF to satisfy the competition authorities.
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- Monsanto
- pesticides
- Conviction
- Agriculture
- World
- Court
- United States
- Missouri