Brazil’s agriculture ministry allowed registration for several insecticides based on dicamba, including a product from the German Bayer-owned company Monsanto, according to publications by Folder in the Diario Official da Unio on Thursday (7).
In a statement, Bayer clarified that the approval made by Paste means registration of the active ingredient of dicamba. “It is not about granting registration of formulations for commercial purposes,” the company told Reuters.
The Brazilian government’s authorization comes soon after a US court ruling in early June, which included Bayer’s XtendiMax, Basf’s Engenia, and FeXapan. Contains Corteva Agroscience.
In the decision, a three-judge panel found that the regulators downplayed the risks related to the product.
Earlier in February, Bayer and BASF were indicted by a US jury for paying damages to a Missouri farmer who claimed that dicamba pesticides destroyed his peach crop.
The General Coordination of Pesticides in Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture has approved registration for six dicamba-based products, which are owned by companies including Monsanto, Albogue Agro Brasil and Ouro Fino Quimica.
According to publications in the folder in the Union’s Official Gazette, all were classified as “products very dangerous to the environment”. Dicamba Tecnico is a Bayer product under the Monsanto 1 brand, manufactured by Gharada Chemicals Limited, India.
The US court’s ruling against dicamba products was criticized by the country’s agriculture secretary, Sonny Perdue, who said it created uncertainty for farmers. Later, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stated that farmers could use existing stocks of pesticides, depending on the product.
