Firm Withdraws Plans To Sell Herbicide To Wisconsin Farmers
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Firm Withdraws Plans To Sell Herbicide To Wisconsin Farmers
Date:
Tue, 7 Jan 2003 13:48:40 -0500
From:
Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide
Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
www.jsonline.com
Original URL:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/State/dec02/106123.asp
Firm withdraws plans to sell herbicide to Wisconsin farmers
State had put tight restrictions on sale; lawsuit was in wings
By LEE BERGQUIST
Last Updated: Dec. 26, 2002
The maker of a controversial herbicide will not sell the chemical this spring in Wisconsin because of limitations placed on the company by the state.
Bayer CropScience has told the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection that it will not introduce Balance Pro herbicide to Wisconsin farmers in 2003.
Use of the toxic weedkiller, which potentially could have been spread on millions of acres of corn, had pitted two state agencies against each other.
The agriculture department last month approved the use of the chemical, but with restrictions. The Department of Natural Resources said those limits did not go far enough because of the potential effect on humans, and the chemical's ability to kill not only targeted weeds but other plants as well.
Bayer decided recently not to market Balance Pro, or isoxaflutole, in Wisconsin because of the restrictions, according to Jim Vanden Brook, chief of the Water Quality Section of the agriculture department.
In addition to the DNR, several environmental groups had fought the use of Balance Pro, fearing that its ability to kill weeds also could poison groundwater and kill plant life in rivers and streams. The product is also a probable carcinogen.
"I think that it is an important protection of our groundwater that this herbicide is not going to be used in this state," said Caryl Terrell, director of the Wisconsin chapter of the Sierra Club. "We are pleased the company faced reality and is not going to use their poison in Wisconsin."
The Madison-based law center Midwest Environmental Advocates was prepared to file a lawsuit to stop the sale of Balance Pro in Wisconsin. Attorney Andrew Hanson said the group will put the lawsuit on hold but is still prepared to go to court if Bayer CropScience tries again to sell the herbicide in Wisconsin.
"If Wisconsin continues to impose these kinds of restrictions, I don't expect to see Balance Pro in the state," he said. "The bottom line is there are a lot of other herbicides that are just as effective and just as cost effective that are available and on the market."
The Wisconsin agriculture department, in approving the use of the chemical, acknowledged that Balance Pro was powerful, but said it could be used safely.
Farm groups like the Wisconsin Corn Growers Association agreed. The association said that keeping it out of Wisconsin would put farmers at a disadvantage because farmers in other states are allowed to use it. Wisconsin farmers typically plant 3.9 million acres of corn each year.
Eighteen other corn-producing states have used the herbicide since it was approved for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1998. Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota had denied its use.
The agriculture department placed heavy restrictions on the use of the chemical. The department banned Balance Pro on more than 1 million acres, including eight counties and the lower Wisconsin River Valley, because those areas are susceptible to groundwater contamination.
The agency also banned the chemical's use on irrigated land and on fields that have drain tiles, and required monitoring wells to be installed in areas where the chemical would be used.
Those requirements would have cost the company at least $270,000 a year for the duration of the five-year permit to sell the herbicide in Wisconsin, said Ned Zuelsdorff, the state's agrichemical management director.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A version of this story appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Dec. 27, 2002.
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