Maybe the EU will stop the planned Monsanto/Bayer merger! Pulaski County Arkansas Circuit Court Judge Chris Piazza threw Monsanto's lawsuit out recently to protect Arkansas farmers' interests and health. Monsanto's suit countered complaints by many farmers that maintain that dicamba drifted away from where it was sprayed, damaging millions of acres of crops that were not able to survive the effects of the "Dicamba Drift."

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Dicamba Drift: Spreading Destruction Of Food & Health....Dicamba Drift. isn't a new Latin dance but what happens when powerful herbicides glyphosate & dicamba are combined. Dicamba makes the combination drift and spread onto adjacent areas...

[BREAKING NEWS: Judge: Monsanto Not Required to Place Warning Labels on Products]

see also: click here

"The required warning for glyphosate does not appear to be factually accurate and uncontroversial because it conveys the message that glyphosate's carcinogenicity is an undisputed fact, when almost all other regulators have concluded that there is insufficient evidence that it causes cancer," the ruling issued late Monday states.

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I became interested in this and related questions about the Monsanto/Bayer merger after reading a Reuters article. This is just as serious a slap against Monsanto as the recent judicial decision by a Fresno Superior Court Judge Kristi Kapetan, to continue California's being the first U.S. state to require Monsanto to label its blockbuster weed killer, Roundup, as causing birth defects and cancer. Both Arkansas and California decisions stemmed from citizens' boards empowered to do so, in California beginning with the California Carcinogen Identification Commission, created by Proposition 65, a popular referendum that didn't go through legislative processes, which might have been waylaid and hamstrung otherwise by corporate lobbyists, indeed, the experience we have seen in many other states like New Mexico and Hawaii.

Pulaski County Arkansas Circuit Court Judge Chris Piazza threw Monsanto's lawsuit out very recently in order to protect the interests and health of Arkansas farmers. (Monsanto, in the process of being acquired by Bayer AG, filed an Arkansas lawsuit last year in a bid to halt the state's ban on spraying the weed killer known as dicamba from the period spanning April 16 to Oct. 31. The suit counters complaints by farmers across our nation that maintain that dicamba drifted away from where it was sprayed, damaging millions of acres of crops that were not able to survive the effects of the herbicide.)

Monsanto, the largest U.S. seed company, said it was disappointed with the judge's decision and would consider additional legal action. In the ruling, the Judge cited a recent Arkansas Supreme Court decision that the state cannot be made a defendant in court, according to the Arkansas Agriculture Department, an unusual and not well known feature of Arkansas' statutes, which somehow eluded the attention of Monsanto's super high priced lawyers.

(The above paragraph has been compiled from several different news venues, including several Reuters; this international news service has consistently done the best coverage internationally, I am guessing because the keen antipathy among many Europeans who recognize the inherent dangers in the proposed Monsanto/Bayer merger)

(Good golly, Monsanto corporate lawyers! What now? Back to the drawing boards and back to the Board Room? I know you will keep up what you think of as the good fight as long as you are making lots of money, but someday soon, your stockholders may dump Monsanto because they too can see that the JIG IS UP!)

see also: click here

Dicamba, is also sold by BASF SE and DowDuPont Inc., and is intended to be used on soybeans and cotton in the summer with plants that the company had earlier engineered to be resistant to that chemical. Monsanto all along intended and depended on the herbicide and its dicamba-resistant soybean seeds to entirely control soybean production in , the world's second-largest exporter, the United States. The US grows twice as much soybean as the next nation on the list, Argentina, but exports less of it.

For Soybean Meal Exports:

1. Argentina 28,650,000 metric tons

2. Brazil 13,600,000 metric tons

3. United States 9,253,000 metric tons

From Chuck Abbott's September 2017 article in Successful Farming magazine:

In the wake of this summer's widespread damage to soybeans and other crops caused by the unintended drift from applications of the weed killer dicamba, Reuters reports that EPA regulators told state officials that they are considering a ban on use of the herbicide after a cutoff date early next year. The idea would be to limit spraying to early spring, before soybeans emerge from the ground.

Another excellent article in Successful Farming 12/17, by Jonathan Hettinger at the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting:

see also: click here

The Illinois Department of Agriculture was warned a year ago about the potential crop damage that could be caused by the herbicide dicamba if the department didn't tighten regulations on the herbicide's use, according to department documents.

The warning came from an industry group of pesticide applicators during a December 2016 meeting held to discuss whether the pesticide should be designated as "restricted use," which means that only certified applicators can apply the pesticide. A nonrestricted-use pesticide can be purchased and applied by anyone, and records of application are not required. Experts say the herbicide damaged at least 600,000 acres of Illinois soybeans and reportedly injured trees at Illinois nature preserves and vineyards in southern Illinois. Yet, to date, the Illinois department has not taken action and has said it has no plans to. In 2016, when there were not major issues with dicamba in Illinois, farmers in Arkansas and Missouri illegally sprayed old versions of the herbicide on the seeds. The resulting crop damage led to lawsuits and, in Arkansas, even resulted in a farmer allegedly shooting and killing another farmer.

Nationwide, at least 3.1 million acres of soybeans in at least 19 states were damaged by dicamba this year, according to Kevin Bradley, a professor at the University of Missouri.

Illinois, which had the second-most damage of any state, had more pesticide complaints in 2017 than any year since at least 1989, according to state records. The majority of complaints came in July and August. During this time, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri moved to ban dicamba, while Illinois did not take any action.

[Monsanto spokeswoman Charla Lord has disputed that Monsanto will not respond to the Midwest Center because the company is unhappy with the Midwest Center's coverage. She said that Monsanto would no longer respond to the Midwest Center because "we have not found your outlet abiding by the fundamentals of journalism ethics."

In another article by Chuck Abbott in Successful Farming November 2017:

MINNESOTA SUGGESTS A TEMPERATURE CUTOFF FOR DICAMBA

see also: click here

State officials should set a cutoff date for spraying dicamba on genetically engineered soybeans as well as a temperature cutoff of 85 degreesF. to reduce greatly the chance of damage to neighboring crops, says a task force of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association. The state restrictions would be in addition to the more stringent rules recently adopted by the EPA.

"Minnesota farmers want to embrace new technologies while continuing to be good neighbors with other farmers and good stewards of the land," wrote task force chair Bob Worth in a letter to state agriculture commissioner Dave Frederickson. "We feel these changes will help our farmers accomplish both goals while preventing weed resistance through the certified use of new technologies."

The task force proposed a one-sentence addition to Minnesota's dicamba regulations: "Do not apply if predicted, or actual temperature high is 85 degreesF. or above." Worth said research showed that vapor volatility, or drift, "increases as air temperature increases and humidity decreases. Daytime temperature is the primary driver of increased volatility"60% of variation associated with dicamba vapor drift (is) attributed to increased temperature, especially above 85 degreesF."

In other nations, Monsanto plays other forms of even dirtier and harder hardball:

From a Reuters article in Fortune May 18, 2016:

See also: click here

Monsanto said on Tuesday it would suspend future soybean technologies in Argentina, a move that could limit output of the country's main cash crop, after a disagreement with the government over inspections of genetically modified soybeans. The dispute blew up after Monsanto asked Argentine exporters to inspect soybean shipments to ensure growers had paid royalties for using the company's products. The Argentine government told the world's largest seed company that such inspections must first be approved by the government. The U.S. company issued a statement saying it was "disappointed" that talks with the Argentine government had not yielded an agreement on the inspection issue. "The company plans to take measures to protect its current assets and will suspend launching any future soybean technologies in the country," Monsanto said in the statement.

Monsanto Embargoes Argentina from Getting Dicamba Resistant Soybeans, May 19, 2016 [click here]

Monsanto has embargoed Argentina from receiving new soybean technologies marketed by the company after the Argentine government insisted it had the sole right to demand the inspection of exports leaving the country (archived). Monsanto has been pressuring export and shipping companies to conduct inspections in an effort to enforce a perverse form of royalty payment on crops that happen to contain genes that Monsanto markets. As the world's leading exporter of soybean meal for livestock feed Argentina presents a perfect environment for Monsanto to extort royalties from farmers whose crops happen to acquire genes marketed by Monsanto This occurs through natural plant reproduction as pollen containing genes Monsanto claims title to travels beyond the borders of Monsanto customer's fields and mixes company with other people's soybeans.

Back to Arkansas and the initial Reuters coverage that piqued my own interest in all of this: [see also: click here]

Monsanto maintains that dicamba, sold as XtendiMax with VaporGrip, is safe. The Arkansas ban hurts Monsanto's ability to sell dicamba-tolerant seed in the state and has caused "irreparable harm" to the company, according to the Monsanto's lawsuit that got rejected a few days ago in Pulaski County.

David Wildy, an Arkansas farmer who served on an Arkansas task force recommending dicamba's ban, said he supported the judge's ruling, maintaining that his own soybeans suffered terrible damage from the herbicide last year and that it threatens plants ranging from flowers to vegetables and peanuts when it drifts away from where it is sprayed. "If we can't keep products on target, then there's not a place for them in agriculture," Wildy said in a telephone interview.

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NPR's coverage was also interesting, very personal, and very thorough.

[click here]

In Arkansas, it is Monsanto vs. a committee of 18 farmers and small-business owners that regulates the use of pesticides. It has banned Monsanto's latest way of killing weeds during the growing season.

Terry Fuller is a member of the Arkansas State Plant Board, which regulates pesticides and seeds. "I didn't feel like I was leading the charge. I felt like I was just trying to do my duty." A farmer and seed dealer in Poplar Grove, Arkansas, he voted for tight restrictions.

Dicamba kills broadleaf plants including weeds plus crops like soybeans. Not these soybeans, though. Monsanto tweaked the genes of these varieties, so dicamba doesn't bother them at all; farmers can plant these seeds and spray dicamba on their fields as the soybeans grow; the weeds die, but the crops are ostensibly fine. When Fuller heard about this, he thought it was great.

Farmers began spraying the chemical on their fields last summer; when it got hot, dicamba evaporated and drifted for a mile into fields of dicamba-intolerant crops; leaving crops stunted or with curled up leaves: soybeans, backyard tomatoes, melons and orchards. Millions of acres were affected, from Mississippi to Minnesota.

"I'm charged with protecting the citizens of the state of Arkansas, and I wasn't doing a very good job of protecting the citizens and can't even protect myself," Fuller stated. Even trees in his yard showed symptoms of dicamba exposure.

Fuller's board is unusual. Its meetings are public and members sit around a big table: farmers, seed dealers and a few people who work for big chemical companies, all volunteers and no lawyers and no politicians. The board is "self-governing, by the people, for the people," says Ray Vaster, who represented rice farmers on the board for 18 years, the best system of regulation he has ever seen. "Every other state, their boards are politically appointed by the party in power," he says.

Regulators across the country debated how to fix the dicamba debacle. Monsanto argued that the problems were the result of mistakes in applying the chemical. In most states, regulators decided to let farmers use dicamba with restrictions, most decisions being made behind closed doors. In Arkansas, the plant board argued about it around that meeting decided that dicamba could not be controlled in hot weather, and banned dicamba spraying during the entire growing season, from April 15 through October, the toughest restrictions in the whole country.

Monsanto sued the board and each individual member, calling their decision arbitrary, capricious and unlawful. Hundreds of farmers who say they need dicamba to control their weeds signed a petition calling for the board to reconsider.

Fuller says the conversations he has had with neighbors and customers about the issue have been civil and neighborly. He doesn't regret his vote to shut down dicamba spraying. "I put forth a good effort, to the best of my ability, to protect the citizens of Arkansas," he says.

[click here]

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Salon's coverage was borrowed a superb article by NATHANAEL JOHNSON (originally written for GRIST)

see also: click here

The dramatic plot twists keep coming. One farmer gunned down another in a confrontation over his withered crops. Then, states began to restrict the use of dicamba, with Arkansas completely banning it last summer. Monsanto wasn't happy about that. In the latest development, the agribusiness company sued the Arkansas State Plant Board, which regulates pesticides. It also sued each of the individual board members -- who, for the record, are just local, agriculture-minded folks who volunteer their time. One board member, Terry Fuller, told NPR's Dan Charles: "I didn't feel like I was leading the charge. I felt like I was just trying to do my duty."

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From Modern Farmer: EPA-Approved Dicamba Is an Airborne Menace and Some States Are Banning It

see also ernfarmer.com/2017/07/dicamba-drift/

By Dan Nosowitz on July 11, 2017

Dicamba is not a new herbicide that selectively kills broad-leafed weeds, and has been used as a pre-emergent (meaning applied to the soil prior to planting to kill weeds). Just last year (2016) genetically-modified dicamba-resistant soy and cotton seeds hit the market under the Monsanto brand name Xtend. Those seeds came with a huge caveat, in that farmers weren't legally allowed to spray dicamba on their fields. That's because dicamba is highly volatile (meaning that it's easily airborne and susceptible to drift, hence these issues); it was only in November of 2016 that a (supposedly) less-volatile version was approved for spraying in 2017. Despite warnings not to, farmers began spraying dicamba on Xtend fields last season; this season's new, EPA-approved dicamba isn't as drift-resistant as thought. If dicamba lands on a field that isn't planted with Monsanto's dicamba-resistant crops, the impact is devastating. Non-resistant soybeans suffer from puckered leaves, buckled pods, and stunted growth. Farms from Arkansas to North Carolina have been hit, millions of acres affected. Monsanto has been sued over this; the lawsuits are ongoing.

What can farmers affected by dicamba drift do? There are reports that federal crop insurance won't cover damage from dicamba drift, as the crop insurance only covers natural disasters like floods and fire. Theoretically, affected famers could rip out their crops and plant Monsanto's dicamba-resistant seed, but forcing farmers to lock into the products of a company due to damage inflicted by that company seems pretty ridiculous.

What does Monsanto have to say?

Monsanto's "North American Crop Protection Systems Lead," Ty Witten claimed that dicamba is getting unfairly blamed: "Other herbicides can mask themselves or be assumed it was dicamba but it really wasn't," repeating Monsanto's claim that growers are applying the pesticide incorrectly, offering a meandering anecdote about a farmer who had left a residue of another chemical in his spraying applicator which affected the volatility of the dicamba, and another about a farmer who had to use colored smoke bombs to gauge the wind at every given moment. "The beautiful and difficult thing about biology is things happen." When asked what he recommends for those who have been drifted on and suffered damage, he appeared to either not understand or ignore the question, instead addressing only the customers who have been spraying dicamba.

Can't the government do anything about this?

The Arkansas State Plant Board's emergency ban on dicamba was approved by the governor on June 30. On July 7th, Arkansas and Missouri both issued temporary bans on the use and sale of dicamba. "I hope folks will continue to not make a knee-jerk reaction, to get real data and information before you make an action change to confirm or disprove that applications techniques were followed or that the correct purchase of herbicide was used definitively," said Witten in that same interview.

Reuters called the dicamba roll-out "Monsanto's largest-ever technology launch." It became its largest fiasco!

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Maps Show How Much Farmland Has Been Damaged by Dicamba Drift

By Dan Nosowitz, November 1, 2017

see also: click here

Dicamba causes a telltale cupping of leaves on soybean plants that aren't immune to it. It is not hyperbole to call dicamba the most controversial agrochemical product launch of the past decade. As is unavoidable with a story that's so rapidly changing--dicamba is banned! Dicamba is restricted! Dicamba led to an actual murder!--it can be hard to get a sense of the full picture. Kevin Bradley at the University of Missouri has been tracking dicamba closely, and put together two maps that show in a nice, broad sense the impact of dicamba: how many acres of farmland have been affected, and how many complaints have been lodged?

Evidence Mounts That Monsanto's Dicamba Is Killing Trees, Too

Dicamba is not particularly new, but dicamba-resistant soybean seeds are, as are newer versions of dicamba that Monsanto and BASF--the companies behind the pesticide--claim are designed to be sprayed on them. But dicamba has shown a tendency to vaporize extremely rapidly and drift onto neighboring farms, and if those farms have not used dicamba-resistant seed, the drift is incredibly destructive. (Monsanto has laid the blame for the drift at the feet of farmers, claiming that they've been properly following the directions. Farmers have said the directions are nearly impossible to follow.)

There has been an avalanche of criminal complaints regarding dicamba, and many reports of affected farmland. Bradley's maps, using data from various state departments of agriculture and weed scientists, summarizes all of that. The data is accurate as of October 15th.

Dicamba-Related Injury Cases Currently Under Investigation

It shows 2,708 dicamba-related cases in progress, ranging from North Dakota to Louisiana, and as far east as North Carolina. The state with the single highest number of cases is Arkansas, with 986. Maps of affected acreage are even scarier, ranging to the east coast as far north as Pennsylvania and as far south as Georgia. Arkansas again was hit the hardest, but both Dakotas and Minnesota were severely damaged as well. Altogether, Bradley's map shows 3.6 million acres of soybean fields damaged by dicamba. Whether the recent decision to make dicamba a restricted-use pesticide will result in less damage is unclear, especially as big chunks of the affected areas are under snow now.

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Jonathan Hettinger of the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting has a new report detailing how dicamba is damaging oak trees in Iowa, Illinois, and Tennessee.

see also: click here

Earlier this year, reports began to surface that dicamba drift had caused telltale curling and cupping of the leaves--a common effect of dicamba--on groves of oak trees, some of which are hundreds of years old. Emails obtained by Hettinger thanks to the Freedom of Information Act show that Monsanto was aware of the issue.

In response, Monsanto has repeated their familiar refrain that when applied properly, dicamba can be safe. "Growers and applicators should always be aware of what crops are around fields before spraying," wrote Charla Lord, a Monsanto spokesperson. Lord also noted that Monsanto's dicamba products underwent extensive testing prior to hitting the market. "Applicators must follow all product labeling and any local requirements before spraying," Lord wrote. But this isn't as easy as it sounds; the directions are incredibly difficult to follow.

"Dicamba is absorbed through the roots of woody plants and can severely injure or kill ornamentals if applied within their root zone," according to a paper from a plant pathologist about diagnosing pesticide impacts on trees.

Way back in 1994, an article from the Journal of Pesticide Reform noted that "Researchers studying red oak tree regeneration following clear-cutting of Pennsylvania forests documented that applications of dicamba reduced germination of oak seedlings. The effects of dicamba on germination of seeds from other trees or from herbaceous plants do not appear to be well studied." The distinctive cupped withering of the leaves is a dead giveaway of dicamba poisoning, but officials have conducted tests to be sure. In Tennessee, cypress and oak trees at the state's largest lake were confirmed by the state Department of Agriculture to have been harmed by dicamba drift. Officials expect those trees to recover, but there has been very little research on the effects of long-term exposure.

The EU is taking this quite seriously, according to a CNBC article, and will announce in the first part of this year whether the merger may proceed:

click here

Things are looking bad for this merger in a recent poll in Europe

see: http://www.foeeurope.org/sites/default/files/styles/node_header_800/public/agriculture/2018/marriage6.jpg?itok=tVNV1eft

illustration: https://twitter.com/foeeurope/status/968406961619382272/photo/1

New polling shows citizens are against the planned merger of agribusiness giants Bayer and Monsanto, with a majority (54%) thinking it is "very" or "fairly important" that the European Commission blocks it more than three times the number who think it would be unimportant [1].

The YouGov survey results from Germany, France, Spain, Denmark and the UK also shows that the merger gives 47% of EU citizens "serious" or "very serious" concerns, while just 11% think the merger offers any potential.

Citizens also expressed concerns that the merger would negatively affect the farmers' choices of what crops they would be able to farm, the environment, and the amount of chemical substances used in farming to control pests and weeds.

The findings come on the day that campaigners meet the European Commissioner for competition, Margrethe Vestager, to hand over almost one million signatures calling to block the merger, and ahead of the European Commission's April 5th deadline to rule on it.

Adrian Bebb, food and farming campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe, said "The planned merger between these giant agribusiness corporations has very little public support. EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager has built her reputation on holding powerful corporations to account, and she must seize the opportunity to block this dangerous and unpopular merger."

Anne Isakowitsch, campaign manager at SumOfUs, said: "A merged Bayer-Monsanto would be relentless in its pursuit of putting corporate profits over the protection of small farms -- eventually driving up prices for consumers. Farming families and communities across Europe would carry the burden of this giant merger. EU Commissioner Vestager must recognize the unique threats posed by Bayer-Monsanto merger and move swiftly to reject their proposal."

Joerg Rohwedder, senior campaigner at WeMove.eu said: "Citizens in Europe care about what grows on the fields and ends up on their plates. A large proportion of them expect the merger, if agreed, would have a negative impact on farmers and the environment. The European Commission should stop this merger from hell."

The poll is the latest temperature check of the public's position on the merger. Over one million Europeans have signed petitions calling on the European Commission to block it, and have been joined by more than 200 civil society organisations, from farmworkers to international development groups.

The agribusiness sector is seeing an unprecedented wave of concentration which, if allowed, would lead to the majority of the world's commercial seeds and pesticides being controlled by a handful of corporations. In 2017, the European Commission waved through the consolidation between Dow-Dupont and ChemChina-Syngenta.

If approved, Bayer-Monsanto would be the world's biggest agriculture corporation.

(Article changed on February 28, 2018 at 23:57)

(Article changed on March 1, 2018 at 00:21)

Authors Website: https://www.facebook.com/groups/592985284186083/

Authors Bio:

Early in the 2016 Primary campaign, I started a Facebook group: Bernie Sanders: Advice and Strategies to Help Him Win! As the primary season advanced, we shifted the focus to advancing Bernie's legislation in the Senate, particularly the most critical one, to protect Oak Flat, sacred to the San Carlos Apaches, in the Tonto National Forest, from John McCain's efforts to privatize this national forest and turn it over to Rio Tinto Mining, an Australian mining company whose record by comparison makes Monsanto look like altar boys, to be developed as North America's largest copper mine. This is monstrous and despicable, and yet only Bernie's Save Oak Flat Act (S2242) stands in the way of this diabolical plan.

We added "2020" to the title.


I am an art gallery owner in Santa Fe since 1980 selling Native American painting and NM landscapes, specializing in modern Native Ledger Art.


I have always been intensely involved in politics, going back to the mid's 1970's, being a volunteer lobbyist in the US Senate for the Secretary General of the United Nations, then a "snowball-in-hell" campaign for US Senate in NM in the late 70's, and for the past 20 years have worked extensively to pressure the FDA to rescind its approval for aspartame, the neurotoxic artificial sweetener metabolized as formaldehyde. This may be becoming a reality to an extent in California, which, under Proposition 65, is considering requiring a mandatory Carcinogen label on all aspartame products, although all bureaucracies seem to stall under any kind of corporate pressure.


Bills to ban aspartame were in the State Senates of New Mexico and Hawaii, but were shut down by corporate lobbyists (particularly Monsanto lobbyists in Hawaii and Coca Cola lobbyists in New Mexico).


For several years, I was the editor of New Mexico Sun News, and my letters to the editor and op/eds in 2016 have appeared in NM, California, Wisconsin, New York, Maryland, the Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, and many international papers, on the subject of consumer protection. Our best issue was 10 days before Obama won in 2008, when we published a special early edition of the paper declaring that Obama Wins! This was the top story on CNN for many hours, way back then....


My highest accomplishments thus far are

1. a plan to create a UN Secretary General's Pandemic Board of Inquiry, a plan that is in the works and might be achieved even before the 75th UN General Assembly in September 2020.


2. Now history until the needs becomes clear to the powers who run the United Nations: a UN Resolution to create a new Undersecretary General for Nutrition and Consumer Protection, strongly supported ten years ago by India and 53 cosponsoring nations, but shut down by the US Mission to the UN in 2008. To read it, google UNITED NATIONS UNDERSECRETARY GENERAL FOR NUTRITION, please.


These are not easy battles, any of them, and they require a great deal of political and journalistic focus. OpEdNews is the perfect place for those who have a lot to say, so much that they exceed the limiting capacities of their local and regional newspapers. Trying to go beyond the regional papers seems to require some kind of "inside" credentials, as if you had to be in a club of corporate-accepted writers, and if not, you are "from somewhere else," a sad state of corporate induced xenophobia that should have no place in America in 2020!

This should be a goal for every author with something current to say: breaking through yet another glass ceiling, and get your say said in editorial pages all over America. Certainly, this was a tool that was essentially ignored in 2016, and cannot be ignored in the big elections of 2020.


In my capacity as Editor of the Santa Fe Sun News, Fox interviewed Mikhail Gorbachev: http://www.prlog.org/10064349-mikhail-gorbachev