Workload From 1,000s Of Dicamba Injury Complaints Flattening State Agriculture Agencies

[hatrack]

Cash-strapped state agriculture agencies are buckling under an increased workload due to the hundreds of herbicide damage complaints filed in 2017 and scuttling other priorities to fully investigate claims of crop injury. More than 2,700 dicamba-related soybean injury complaints have been filed to date, according to the University of Missouri’s Integrated Pest Management program.

The complaints are a big setback for companies—Monsanto Co., BASF SE, and DowDupont—that introduced new versions of the herbicide for the first time this year to help farmers combat stubborn weeds that no longer die when sprayed with traditional herbicides. Underfunded state pesticide regulatory agencies are also overwhelmed with the number of complaints they must process.

David Scott, pesticide program administrator with the Office of the Indiana State Chemist, doesn’t expect to wrap up his state’s 2017 investigations until well into 2018. Indiana has opened close to 130 investigations, a higher number than some states, but well below Arkansas’ nearly 1,000 investigations and Missouri’s 311.

“You stop doing worker protection, you stop doing product work, you stop doing golf course inspections, you stop doing school inspections,” Scott said at a Dec. 4 meeting of pesticide regulators at the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs headquarters in Arlington, Va. “You basically stop doing anything and hope that you can respond to these things.”

EDIT

https://www.bna.com/dicamba-woes-drain-n73014472768/

[pscot]

1. Dicamba complaint

...farmers complained that their neighbors’ use of the new weedkillers shriveled up non-engineered soybeans, as well as vegetable crops and trees. Monsanto and BASF say the damage is not due to volatility, but to farmers not using the pesticide properly. At least five lawsuits from farmers against the companies have been filed....