On February 15, 2020, the federal jury in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, US demanded that the German chemical giant, Bayer, has to pay USD 265 million to an American farmer for encouraging the use of Monsanto’s weedkiller dicamba and causing irreparable damage to its business. The decision was made after Bill Bader, a farmer in Missouri sued Bayer and the BASF chemical company for providing Dicamba used in the farm near his peach farm, causing great damage to his crop. The fine includes USD 15 million in compensation and USD 250 million in punitive damages. Both Bayer and BASF declared to launch an appeal. This was the first of more than 140 Monsanto Dicamba cases to come to trial. Before that Bayer had faced many lawsuits relating to Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller. In November 2018, the US Environmental Protection Agency issued some restrictions on the use of Dicamba weedkiller, concerning that it may harm the surroundings.
According to report of Investigate Midwest, Bader said that both Bayer and BASF knew that the use of Dicamba-related products can damage to the nearby farms, but still sold the chemicals to farmers. Bader’s annual average crop reduced from 162,000 bushels in early 2000s to just 12,000 bushels in 2018, forcing him to suspend operations.
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