A county jury has decided that Germany-based Bayer CropScience owes a dozen Arkansas rice growers $48 million for failing to contain its GE rice, which pervasively contaminated the commercial market and hurt prices in 2006. It is the fourth case out of dozens to go to trial and second to receive a decision. The first ruling — awarding affected farmers $1 million — was decided in March. No country has approved GE rice for commercial production. These are important victories for American farmers and also reminders that experimental GE field trials pose serious economic consequences. Canada continues to face its own contamination nightmare ever since unapproved GE flax showed up in lucrative exports, as Matthew Dillon wrote about here.
