The company had already announced plans to treat Bayer CropScience as a separate unit.
It still appears that Bayer may buy Aventis CropScience, the agricultural division of Franco-German drug giant Aventis .
The current suit was originally brought by Aventis CropScience NV, which alleged Dow infringed four patents.
The purchase of Aventis CropScience makes Bayer's agriculture division one of the biggest in the world.
The last thing it needed was for the slow-growing CropScience business to detract attention from its drugs.
Public authorities and councils earlier assured the group that the odour on the Bayer CropScience site was no threat.
Sandra Peterson, Bayer CropScience CEO, also faced crucial decisions in her life.
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Residents of Hauxton, near Cambridge, complained of a strong chemical odour during the decontamination of the Bayer CropScience site in 2010.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has been taking daily air quality samples from the Bayer Cropscience site at Hauxton since March.
Harrow Estates, the company responsible for decontamination work at the Bayer CropScience site in Hauxton, has said the work is finished.
Purchasing CropScience could help Bayer move away from the pharmaceuticals business.
In a statement, pesticide manufacturer Bayer CropScience said the failure to reach agreement showed that there was "no convincing argument against the continuing use of neonicotinoid-based products".
CropScience was formed from the merger of Bayer's existing agrochemicals business with the one it bought from Aventis (nyse: AVE - news - people ).
The firm is decontaminating the former Bayer CropScience factory site.
Aventis decided to sell off its CropScience division in November.
The latter deal would not be a surprise--Bayer (otc: BAYZY - news - people ) has been in exclusive talks to buy Aventis' CropScience since July.
If Bayer does purchase CropScience, it will further drive home a point that has increasingly become apparent to anyone watching the pharmaceutical industry: The drug business does not leave energy for diversification.
The Aventis brass knew how to handle a scandal-plagued division that wasn't even really a big breadwinner: They sold CropScience to Bayer (nyse: BAY - news - people ).
"The report says only half the people that took part - and remember, 99.9% of the population did not - had some concerns, " said Paul Rylott, of the Agricultural Biotechnology Council (ABC), which represents biotech firms like Monsanto and Bayer CropScience.
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