Monsanto loses critical vote to keep controversial pesticide on market

*** After farmers speak out, Arkansas Plant Board votes 10 to 3 to ban dicamba during the 2018 season  - setting precedent that could cause domino effect across US, Brazil, Argentina and India ***

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (US).— After hundreds of farmers traveled across Arkansas today to present their complaints about the over-the-top use of dicamba, a herbicide sold by Monsanto, the Arkansas Plant Board voted 10 to 3 in favor of an in-season ban from April 16 to October 31 2018. For the ban to take effect, it now needs final approval by the executive subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council.

Since the release of over-the-top dicamba, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency, dicamba has damaged 3.6 million acres of soy crops across the US, resulting in massive losses for farmers, a public relations nightmare for Monsanto, and regulatory scrutiny.

This month saw a record-breaking public comment period in Arkansas regarding the proposed ban, including approximately 27,000 comments in favor, around 400 against, and 1000 miscellaneous, according to the Arkansas Agriculture Department.

Below are a sample of the statements made by Arkansas farmers to the Plant Board just before they cast their vote:   

Karen Hawkins, farmer and sister of farmer Mike Wallace, who was killed over a dicamba conflict with another farmer, said during the public hearing:

“I’m the younger sister of Mike Wallace, an amazing man and farmer who was shot and killed by another farmer on a dispute over dicamba. Around 80 acres of our peanuts were damaged this year. We had to plant defensively and use dicamba resistant plants. It’s not easy, but each and every farmer has the right to plant the crops and seed varieties that he chooses to. This is not just a Monsanto issue. This is not only about a farmer’s bottom dollar. This is about how we, as human beings, treat other human beings. I fully support plant board’s recommendation.”

David Wildy, a farmer in Manila, AR who grows soybeans, cotton, peanuts, and other crops, and was named 2016’s Arkansas farmer of the year, said during the public hearing:

“We have solved many problems in agriculture. However, this is the most controversial and complex issue in agriculture in my 44 years of farming. I am appalled that industry would bring to us a technology that has caused so much damage. We cannot tolerate a technology that we can’t keep on target… Tell me, who is going to take responsibility for the damage this product has caused? I have experienced serious damage on my farm. Who is standing up to claim responsibility for damage from this product? … We have a serious problem… something is wrong.

Scott Everett, a farmer from Woodruff County in Arkansas, said during the public hearing:

“Dicamba is too volatile to even think about.. People like me have to plant dicamba beans to keep from getting injury b/c we know that a neighboring farm is going to plant dicamba beans… the volatility is just there… this will pit neighbor against neighbor. It’s like putting a rattlesnake in your house to control the mice.  Is there not a better way? .. Do we not have a better mousetrap?”

Dalia Hashad, Avaaz Campaign Director, present during the public hearing, said:

“Arkansas just set an example for the world. Monsanto has bullied farmers who speak out against dicamba. They smother critical science. Now they’re even suing governments to make sure they don’t regulate, no matter the harm it does to plants and people. Today they failed.”

BACKGROUND

Dicamba is an herbicide used for decades, but has recently been put on the market in a new above-crop application to kill weeds in fields planted with Monsanto’s dicamba-resistant soybeans and cotton. Increasingly, farmers report, and scientists have shown, that dicamba is volatile and can drift — sometimes for miles onto other crops. It damages most broadleaf plants that are not genetically modified to resist dicamba, and farmers who haven’t used genetically modified seeds by Monsanto found damage to their crops as the result of their neighbor’s application of the the product. Arkansas, one of the first states to try to regulate the product, has seen this controversy come to a boiling point.

Scientists from the University of Arkansas have presented overwhelming evidence that the herbicide can volatilize during warm weather and drift, damaging plants that are not genetically modified to resist dicamba. The study also found evidence of further damage, such as decline to honey production.

The controversy in Arkansas reached its peak when farmer Mike Wallace was shot dead by another farmer after complaining about damages caused by dicamba, last October. 2,708 investigations into the impacts of dicamba have been launched across the US, according to the University of Missouri. This year alone, big soy producers such as Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas had the equivalent of 4 years worth of complaints related to dicamba. Arkansas got 985 complaints; Missouri, 310 (it gets around 80 each year); Illinois, 421 (a record since 1989). Tennessee, Minnesota and Iowa also registered cases.

Now Arkansas, with around 1,000 complaints, is among the first governments to consider a ban on the herbicide. Last month, the state's Plant Board got a record number of more than 27,000 comments in favor of a proposed dicamba ban. If Arkansas legislators vote to ban over-the-top dicamba-use during summer and spring planting seasons, it could set a precedent for farmers across the US and in countries like Brazil and India where the controversial product is also in use.

Dicamba-resistant soy and cotton seeds were planted on 25 million acres of US fields this year. But this is not just domestic issue and after investing over one billion dollars in its development, Monsanto plans to export dicamba worldwide. Despite the overwhelming evidence and complaints, Monsanto insists the damage caused by dicamba drift is due to its misuse. However many farmers found it almost impossible to follow a complex 4,550-word label of instructions.

More information and video testimonies: Nana Queiroz nana@avaaz.org and Media Office: media@avaaz.org