In a 30-page response Bayer Crops Science offers the first clue to how the company plans to defend itself against the 15 class-action lawsuits filed by farmers, who allege that they stand to lose millions of dollars because of the contamination. Denying any culpability, the Bayer response variously blames the escape of its gene-altered variety of long-grain race, LL601, on "unavoidable circumstances which could not have been prevented by anyone"; "an act of God"; and farmers' "own negligence, carelessness, and/or comparative fault."

Meanwhile, in an effort to "purge" rice seeds from Bayers contamination, the Arkansas Rice board has banned the rice variety "Chernier" from planting in 2007.