DuPont Fights Herbicide Suits

Don’t get polo players upset. If they don’t run you down with their horses, they can do some pretty serious damage with those mallets, too 

The members of a Michigan golf and polo club are going one step further and putting their money into a legal fight with chemical giant DuPont.

They are upset about the company’s Imprelis, a herbicide that was introduced last year that does kill weeds, but also seems to be doing some damage to various types of trees, according to Zacks.com. And they're not the only ones.

“Many landscapers and professional gardeners switched to Imprelis to control weeds in turf such as dandelions as Imprelis was claimed to be safer for the environment than (its) predecessors,” Zacks reports. But property owners are complaining, the site adds, particularly about the death of white pine and Norway spruce trees. “Substantial tree damage has been reported throughout the Midwest, in East Coast states, and as far south as Georgia,” Zacks notes.

At least four lawsuits have been filed against DuPont, according to the Detroit Free Press, which says the EPA is planning to expedite its review of the matter. There's even a website, ImprelisLawsuitClaim.com, inviting the public to pile on.

“We are working with our customers to investigate reports of unfavorable symptoms observed on certain tree species,” said Kate Childress, a spokeswoman for DuPont, in a statement to Bloomberg about the first lawsuit. She added that the claims are “unfounded” and will be opposed “vigorously.”