Monsanto is fighting back as agricultural scientists accuse the company of misleading farmers about the safety of its weedkiller dicamba. The chemical has been blamed for millions of dollars in crop damage this year.
The scientists argue that Monsanto released a new “low-volatility” version of dicamba, falsely claiming that, unlike an earlier version, it wouldn’t evaporate into the air and create a crop-killing vapor, according to NPR. By the end of last summer, 3.1 million acres of crops showed dicamba damage, according to Kevin Bradley, a professor of weed science at the University of Missouri. The weedkiller was drifting onto neighboring fields and orchards that weren’t planted with GMO soybeans and cotton specially formulated to handle the chemical.
“Monsanto’s executives insist that the people who sprayed dicamba were just learning how to do it properly and didn’t follow directions,” says NPR. But scientists have found damaged crops far away from any spraying. And as critical researchers have spoken out, Monsanto — and farmers who want to continue using dicamba — have retaliated.
“In Arkansas, where state regulators proposed a ban on dicamba during the growing season next year, Monsanto recently sued the regulators, arguing that the ban was based on ‘unsubstantiated theories regarding product volatility that are contradicted by science,’” says NPR. “The company called on regulators to disregard information from Jason Norsworthy, one of the University of Arkansas’ weed researchers, because he had recommended that farmers use a non-dicamba alternative from a rival company. Monsanto also attacked the objectivity of Ford Baldwin, a former university weed scientist who now works as a consultant to farmers and herbicide companies.”
“I read it as an attack on all of us, and anybody who dares to [gather] outside data,” says Bob Scott, a weed scientist at the University of Arkansas. “And some of my fellow weed scientists read it that way as well.”
The EPA recently sided with Monsanto, though, announcing that it will continue to permit use of dicamba, with a few additional restrictions.