This winter, a couple of dozen British farmers have been spraying their fields with a herbicide called glufosinate ammonium. It sounds unremarkable. But in May the herbicide will be at the centre of a courtroom battle that, depending on who you talk to, represents either an unprecedented attack on the competitiveness of big business, or a timely warning of a looming threat to the freedom to share information―one of the mainstays of modern science and public reassurance about safety. The case pits the British government against the multinational company Aventis and an agrochemicals industry body called the Crop Protection Association (CPA). At issue is not whether the farmers are breaking the law―everybody agrees they're not―but rather the secrecy surrounding the herbicide, including crucial information about its safety. For once, the British government, no stranger to secrecy, is saying it's in the public interest to disclose the evidence. Aventis, which carried out the research, says it's commercially sensitive and must therefore stay under wraps.
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