Civil Liberties, Health Care, Food Policies

Bayer to Pay $1.5 Million in 2nd Lawsuit Over GM Rice

February 5, 2010

Reuters - Germany's Bayer was ordered by a jury in the United States to pay $1.5 million in damages to three farmers for losses they incurred because of contaminations of Bayer's genetically modified rice, the second in about 500 similar cases pending.

The jury's ruling in a St. Louis court against Bayer's CropScience division follows a related case in December, in which Bayer was ordered to pay $2 million, the chemicals- and drugmaker said on Friday after the close of trading in Germany.

"The company will assess this ruling thoroughly and consider its options," a Bayer spokesman in Germany said.

"Bayer CropScience is standing by its view that the company has handled its biotech rice responsibly and appropriately at all times," he added.

A rice variety whose genetic code had been modified by a Bayer subsidiary for research purposes and which was not approved for commercial cultivation was found in the food supply chain in August 2006 after it had been tested by a U.S. university.

As a result, Japan and the European Union restricted U.S. rice from crossing their borders, leading to a plunge in rice prices, a drop in exports and extensive losses incurred by U.S. rice farmers.

"Since the amounts claimed differ considerably from case to case, the rulings so far do not allow for conclusions regarding the outcome of the remaining cases pending," Bayer said.

The long-grain rice in question had a protein known as Liberty Link, which allows the crop to withstand applications of a certain weed killer.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration said at the time there was no public health or environmental risk associated with the rice variety.

Media release via TGI Marketing Communications on behalf of farmers' attorneys:

A St. Louis, Mo. jury today found Germany-based Bayer Cropscience AG and several of its affiliates negligent in the second of several "bellwether trials" scheduled for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, and awarded a total of $1.5 million to two Arkansas long-grain rice farmers and one in Mississippi whose crops and their livelihood, the jury determined, were harmed by Bayer's genetically modified rice.

Joe and Jim Penn, of Portia, Ark., were awarded $480,692 in compensatory damages and fellow Arkansas rice farmer Jerry Catt, of Corning, Ark., was awarded $96,996 in compensatory damages. Black Dog Planting Co., of Lyon, Miss., represented by partner Gary Goode, was awarded $923,154 in compensatory damages.

The suit was brought on behalf of the rice farmers based on economic damages they suffered from contamination of their crops by an unapproved genetically modified strain of rice seed produced by Bayer. Discovery of the contamination led to a dramatic drop in U.S. rice prices, as the European Union stopped purchasing the U.S. rice. The farmers suffered economic loss due to the much lower demand for their rice since 2006, when the contaminated rice was discovered.

This trial, which began January 11, is the second of five scheduled "bellwether" – or test-trials scheduled by U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Perry that involves rice farmers in Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. These trials represent the first step Perry ordered in hearing the multi-district litigation involving some 6,000 rice producers in those five states ...

More test trials involving Bayer and rice farmers are scheduled for this summer in the same federal courtroom and will include farmers from Louisiana and Texas.