While corn and grain sorghum growers slept last night, trial attorneys from Texas and Illinois were likely popping corks on bottles of champagne, celebrating a non-science based settlement with Syngenta, the maker of the herbicide atrazine. Jere White, executive director of the Kansas Corn Growers Association and Kansas Grain Sorghum Producers Association said while community water systems in several states, including Kansas, had joined the class action lawsuit, the real winners will be the attorneys who will skim about $35 million off the top of the $105 million settlement.
The communities who joined the lawsuit sought damages against Syngenta and others for having atrazine in their intake water, even if the atrazine levels were well below the Federal Drinking Water Standard of 3 parts per billion set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
“We are disappointed that water systems, including a few systems in rural Kansas communities, were willing to join a lawsuit that challenged regulatory standards that are critical for American agriculture, and in fact to those same water systems” White said. “While some of these lawsuit participants may receive a relatively small amount of money for their participation, the real winners are the out-of-state trial attorneys who will take tens of millions of dollars off the top. It’s ironic that the trial attorneys’ bounty will ultimately be paid by the farmers who support the economies of the communities that joined the lawsuit.”
Meanwhile, EPA’s ongoing Science Advisory Panels on atrazine continue. The lawsuit has no bearing on the regulatory process.
Details of the settlement were outlined in a Syngenta news release:
“Syngenta and attorneys for several community water systems have agreed to settle litigation related to the herbicide atrazine in order to avoid the business uncertainty and expense of protracted litigation.
Syngenta acknowledges no liability and continues to stand by the safety of atrazine. The scientific evidence continues to make it clear that no one ever has or ever could be exposed to enough atrazine in water to affect their health. The plaintiffs acknowledge that they have not commissioned and are not aware of any new scientific studies relating to the safety of atrazine.
The proposed settlement agreement which requires court approval was filed with the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois on May 24, 2012. Water systems joining the class will be eligible for payments from a $105 million settlement funded by Syngenta.
