BASEL, SWITZERLAND, May 25 - Syngenta and attorneys for several community water systems agreed to settle litigation related to the herbicide atrazine for $105 million. 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.
Under the terms of the agreement, Syngenta expressly denied liability and the plaintiffs acknowledged that they are not aware of any new scientific studies relating to atrazine, the company said in a statement.
This litigation began almost eight years ago when a group of community water systems claimed that Syngenta should pay to filter atrazine from their water supplies.
Syngenta described the settlement as a “business decision that will end the ongoing expense, uncertainty, and distraction of protracted litigation and allow farmers to continue to realize the benefits of atrazine to agriculture, the economy, and the environment.”
The total cost of the settlement will be charged to Syngenta’s income statement in 2012. The charge is partly covered by provisions and the impact on earnings will be approximately $0.5 per share.
Details of the agreement can be found at http://www.atrazinefacts.com/
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