A fourth seed company has joined a lawsuit against Kauai County that attempts to block implementation of a new law regulating pesticide use and the farming of genetically modified crops.

BASF has joined the suit with Syngenta, DuPont Pioneer and Agrigenetics, doing business as Dow Agro-Sciences, on Feb. 7, four weeks after a joint complaint was filed by the three seed companies in U.S. District Court. In the suit, the companies contend that Ordinance 960 is "fatally flawed" and is pre-empted by state and federal laws that regulate pesticides and genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.

The companies further contend that the ordinance will increase risks of commercial espionage, vandalism and misappropriation of trade secrets and inhibit farming activities.

The new law is slated to take effect in mid-August.

In response to an inquiry by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, BASF spokeswoman Fran Castle said in an email Thursday that the company "has completed its review of the situation and we believe that the ordinance is invalid."

Castle added, "It arbitrarily targets our industry with burdensome and baseless restrictions on farming operations by attempting to regulate activities over which counties in Hawaii have no jurisdiction."

In November the Kauai County Council voted to put in place the new law by overriding Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr.’s veto of the measure that requires large-scale agricultural operations to disclose information about pesticide use and cultivation of genetically modified crops. The move was preceded by months of emotionally charged political campaigning and marathon public hearings.

On Wednesday the County Council approved a request to hire special counsel to represent the county in the lawsuit.