An Alberta farmer has won his case after a recent court decision ruled that the chemical Pursuit lacked adequate warnings on its label about possible harm to crops the year after the chemical’s use.
A Calgary Court of Queen’s Bench justice said Cyanamid Crop Protection, a division of Wyeth-Ayerst Canada, did not adequately warn farmers about possible harm from chemical residue.
“I find that the defendants were negligent in failing to adequately warn users of increased danger of residue on follow-up crops in certain climatic and soil conditions,” justice B.E. Romaine said in her written statement.
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“Certainly, the possibility of residue damage to follow-up crops was not remote, and the Pursuit label did in fact reference this danger in general terms. However, it specifically stated that research studies had shown that spring wheat could be safely grown in black soil zones the year after he used Pursuit,” she said.
Trochu, Alta., farmer Dale Moran was awarded almost $30,000, which was the estimated loss of yield to his 759 acres of Oslo wheat in 1998, the year following the Pursuit application.
“This was my contribution to agriculture,” said Moran, who spent $50,000 in legal fees to be awarded $27,745.25 in crop damages. “Most farmers think I’m nuts. I just want to make western Canada farmers aware.”
In 1998, Moran seeded Oslo wheat on land that had been sprayed with Pursuit in 1997. Beside that field he seeded Oslo on land where Pursuit hadn’t been used the year before. The proximity of the fields made his stunted wheat crop more obvious, he said.
BASF now manufactures Pursuit. Phone calls were not returned by representatives from BASF or lawyer Grant Vipond, who represented the company in court. The defendants have 20 days to file an appeal after Moran’s lawyer, David Thurmeier, serves them with the judge’s decision.
Denise Maurice, a weed scientist with Westco Fertilizer, said she has heard about problems with residual carryover of Pursuit and other herbicides before.
“It’s been my contention that these labels have been extremely weak relative to the parameters that influence carryover,” said Maurice.
She said a meeting of the Canadian Weed Science Society at the end of November in Winnipeg is intended to deal with chemical residue and improved labelling.
“I want to start an action committee. I am tired of unclear labelling. We need to have clear guidelines for farmers so they can make proper decisions,” said Maurice. She added that the society asked the agency in charge of labelling to create guidelines three years ago.
“I would like to see clear guidelines that have common elements across labels so that farmers can clearly understand the information that they need, and us as advisers need to know what to advise them on.”
During the trial, James Harren with Cyanamid conceded that research indicated the possibility of residual soil activity from Pursuit the year following application. He said dissipation of the active ingredient depended on soil type, moisture and temperature.
“(Harren) was also referred to an internal Cyanamid document written in or before 1997 that indicates that government officers had given Cyanamid a courtesy call indicating that they were concerned about multi-year carry-over potential of Pursuit on sensitive crops,” wrote the judge.
Another 1997 internal Cyanamid document talked about managing the issue of recropping fields treated with Pursuit with the “objective of allaying concerns of members of the crop protection industry about the recropping issue, thus avoiding a negative report in provincial publications.”
Eric Johnson, a weed biologist with Agriculture Canada’s research station in Scott, Sask., said chemical companies have already changed their labels to reflect conditions related to recent dry years on the Prairies and the possible carryover of herbicide in following years. He said herbicide carryover is dependent on weather, soil types, organic matter and pH.
Ieuan Evans, plant pathologist adviser with Agri-Trend, said herbicide carryover is dependent on many factors.
“(Pursuit) is a very effective herbicide. The only time it acts up is at a low pH and the soil is low in organic matter. Then it can be a problem,” he said.
