Pork Industry Fights Back Against HSUS; BASF Interested in DuPont

Pork producers want USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to exhaust all legal options against a lawsuit filed by the Humane Society of the United States. Delegates from both the National Pork Board and the National Pork Industry Council voted to pressure Vilsack to seek all legal options against the lawsuit. At issue is a 2012 lawsuit HSUS filed against the sale of intellectual property; the slogan “Pork. The Other White Meat.” and the accompanying pork chop icon. The sale, worth roughly $35 million, was approved by USDA in 2006. HSUS claims the sale was unlawful.

Dow Jones reports BASF is considering a counter bid for DuPont, who agreed to merge with Dow Chemical in December. BASF is currently working with advisers and financing banks to examine the merits of a counter bid for the $55 billion chemical company. BASF started working with advisers last year to explore a bid for DuPont and talked with the company before the Dow-DuPont merger was announced. BASF is the world's third-largest producer of weed-killers, insecticides and other pesticides.