Suit Alleges XTend Seeds Require Illegal Dicamba Herbicide
Monsanto is facing a potential class action lawsuit over its XTend cotton and soybean seeds. The complaint, filed on behalf of farmers in 10 different states, alleges that the seeds were sold without a safe herbicide. This encourages farmers to use the illegal pesticide dicamba, the class action lawsuit alleges. Use of dicamba damages nearby crops, and is therefore illegal.
The product liability attorneys at Parker Waichman LLP have decades of experience representing clients in lawsuits over allegedly defective or dangerous products. The firm continues to offer free legal consultations to individuals with questions about filing an XTend Dicamba lawsuit against Monsanto.
According to court documents, the proposed class representatives are family farmers who own farms in New Madrid County, Missouri. Their farm has been operating since 1976. The complaint alleges that Monsanto sold its XTend cotton and soybean seeds despite the lack of a safe herbicide to protect this crop. The lawsuit alleges Monsanto sold the XTend seeds before ensuring that they could be safely cultivated.
The plaintiffs refer to Monsanto’s own advertising, which markets the XTend seeds with an accompanying herbicide. The products were marketed together as a “system”, the complaint states. However, Monsanto failed to gain approval for the herbicide accompanying the XTend seeds. The lawsuit alleges that, nonetheless, Monsanto moved forward with selling its XTend seeds even though the company knew that using dicamba was the only option to protect the crop system.
Dicamba is illegal, the suit states, because the herbicide can drift over to nearby farms and damage other crops. The lawsuit alleges that the plaintiffs’ farms were damaged by the use of dicamba. Allegedly, Monsanto knew that selling XTend seeds would promote the use of dicamba, leading to the destruction of neighboring crop systems.
The class action lawsuit represents farmers affected by illegal dicamba spraying associated with Monsanto XTend seeds in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
The plaintiffs are suing for negligence, strict liability, failure to warn, conspiracy, disgorgement of profits, and punitive damages.
Monsanto Roundup Herbicide Lawsuits and Cancer Risks
Monsanto is already involved in litigation over its Roundup herbicide, with lawsuits alleging that the company failed to warn about the risk of cancer. The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has established a federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) for Roundup herbicide lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California before U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria.
MDLs are a type of mass tort where similar lawsuits are brought together in one court. Consolidating cases into a MDL makes complex litigation more efficient. In the Roundup MDL, plaintiffs similarly allege that the Roundup herbicide caused cancer and that Monsanto knew about the risks but failed to warn consumers.
According to court records, one Roundup plaintiff is an Illinois man who filed a complaint in February 2016. The suit filed on his behalf states that he has been using Roundup regularly since the 1980s to control the growth of poison oak and weeds on his property in Sonoma, California. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and alleges that this cancer diagnosis is related to glyphosate exposure. The lawsuit alleges Monsanto has known that Roundup is associated with cancer snice the 1970s, but failed to warn consumers about this risk.
In March 2015, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) declared glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, a “probable human carcinogen”. Following the announcement, the California Environmental Protection Agency said it would add the chemical as a known carcinogen under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, also known as Proposition 65 (Prop 65).
The IARC declared glyphosate a “probable human carcinogen” after 17 leading cancer experts from 11 different countries met to discuss the carcinogenic properties of five pesticides. After the announcement, the European Parliament discouraged the non-commercial public use of glyphosate.
Monsanto has fought the Prop 65 listing, and filed a lawsuit against the state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment’s (OEHHA). In January, however, the Superior Court of California, County of Fresno tentatively dismissed the lawsuit, dealing a legal blow to Monsanto.
Recently, a study published in the journal Scientific Reports identified a causative link between Roundup and liver disease in rats. Researchers found that glyphosate exposure caused a liver disease known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
Filing a Monsanto Herbicide Lawsuit
Parker Waichman has spent years representing clients in lawsuits over alleged environmental health risks. If you or someone you know is interested in filing a Monsanto RoundUp Herbicide lawsuit or a Monsanto XTend Dicamba lawsuit, speak with one of our environmental attorneys today. For more information, fill out our online form or call 1-800-YOURLAWYER (1-800-968-7529).
