Family Farm Defenders et al. v. Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection
Background: Bayer CropScience (or Aventis) applied to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP) for a special local needs registration for an herbicide known as Balance Pro. The federal government withheld its full approval of this herbicide due to its potential to contaminate surface water and groundwater.
Every year since 1999, DATCP has rejected similar applications to use Balance Pro in Wisconsin based on concerns about water contamination. Under pressure from industrial scale agricultural interests, DATCP has now decided to allow isoxaflutole in the state. DATCP proposed to allow the use of Balance Pro on approximately 3.1 million of Wisconsin’s 3.9 million acres of corn production.
Balance Pro contains the compound “isoxaflutole” as its active ingredient, which is considered by EPA to be a probable cancer-causing agent for humans.
DATCP has found that isoxaflutole is highly mobile and very persistent in the environment. This means that once water supplies are contaminated with isoxaflutole, it will be very difficult for the public to clean up these waters. DATCP has also found that groundwater and surface water contamination will likely result from application of isoxaflutole on Wisconsin’s corn fields. Isoxaflutole is highly toxic to non-target plants. This herbicide could severely damage Wisconsin’s multi-million dollar vegetable crop industry if farmers inadvertently irrigate their vegetable crops with water contaminated with isoxaflutole.
To attempt to offset the risk of groundwater and surface water contamination, DATCP proposed a series of mitigation measures, including requiring the applicant, Bayer CropScience, to pay for and conduct groundwater and surface water monitoring studies in selected areas where isoxaflutole will be used. DATCP also proposed to ban its use on lands adjacent to the Lower Wisconsin River, in eight counties in Wisconsin where soil conditions are inappropriate, and on drain-tiled fields, among other restrictions.
Unfortunately, DATCP admitted that these mitigation measures do not go far enough to protect Wisconsin residents from this toxic herbicide, that the restrictions will be difficult if not impossible to enforce, and that the risks of its use in Wisconsin are still unknown. Moreover, the Department of Natural Resources found serious flaws with DATCP’s proposed mitigation measures.
DATCP was waiting to see if Bayer CropScience would agree to the restrictions placed on the use of isoxflutole in Wisconsin. If Bayer CropScience agreed, DATCP would sign an official order allowing this toxic herbicide in Wisconsin.
Family Farm Defenders, an organization of family farmers and sustainable agriculture advocates, and Habitat Education Center hired MEA to sue DATCP for allowing the use of isoxaflutole in Wisconsin. If and when DATCP signs an official order allowing its use, MEA will file the lawsuit in state court.
 Read DATCP’s Final Environmental Impact Statement on the Use of Isoxaflutole [EIS_Final_17.pdf]
 Listen to a December 12, 2002 WPR story on Balance Pro: Balance_Pro_121202.ram
Status: On December 20, 2002, Bayer Crop Science announced that it was not going to register and market its toxic herbicide in Wisconsin. This is a victory for all who are working to prevent toxins from polluting Wisconsin's waters.
Listen to a December 27, 2002 WPR story on the decision: Balance_Pro_122702.ram
|
