USDA’s Greenlighting Of ‘Agent Orange’ Crops Sparks
Condemnation
Following widespread outcry, Dow's new genetically engineered corn and soybeans
get approval.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision
this week to approve two new genetically
engineered crops is being denounced by
watchdog groups as a false solution to
herbicide-resistant weeds and a move
that threatens human and environment
safety alike.
The crops are Dow AgroSciences’ Enlist corn and
soybeans, engineered to be resistant to its Duo
herbicide, which contains 2,4-D, a component
of the notorious Agent Orange. 2,4-D has
been linked to Parkinson’s, birth defects,
Dow states that the new system will address
the problem of weeds that have become
resistant to glyphosate, the active ingredient in
Monsanto’s widely-used Roundup.
Food and environmental safety groups, however,
say that it speaks to the failure of the genetically
engineered crops strategy that fosters herbicide
expansion—profitable for the chemical companies—
and ignores the paradigm shifted needed in the
industrial agriculture system.
“With this approval comes millions of more pounds
of toxic herbicides dumped onto our land; it’s an
unacceptable outcome,” said Andrew Kimbrell,
executive director for Center for Food Safety.
His group noted that the USDA analysis acknowledges
that the crops could lead to as much as a 7-fold
increase in agricultural use of 2,4-D by 2020,
and this, Kimbrell stated, “will only spur the
evolution of yet more herbicide-resistant weeds.”
Ronnie Cummins, international director
of the Organic Consumers Association and its
Mexico affiliate, Vía Orgánica, issued a similar
warning, stating, “The USDA’s approval of
these crops is proof that today’s destructive,
industrial agriculture model, based on a system
of genetically engineered mono-crops, is a failure.”
“Farmers have been sold the lie that they can
increase yields and prevent crop failure from
weeds by buying Monsanto’s and Dow’s GMO
seeds and dousing them in toxic poisons, also
manufactured and sold by Monsanto and Dow,”
Cummins continued. “But just as scientists
predicted, these ‘miracle’ crops are evolving
to resist the poisons thrown on them, causing
the USDA and the EPA to approve increasingly
toxic poisons to fight increasingly resistant
weeds. Where does the escalation end?”
“We need a new direction for our agricultural
system, not increased reliance on chemicals.”
Kimbrell added.
The Center for Food Safety and the Pesticide
Action Network added that their groups would
pursue legal options to stop the crops’ threats to
communities.
The Enlist Duo herbicide meant to be used in
combination with the new crops is still
waiting for approval from the EPA. Despite
widespread outcry, Dow said in a press
statement that the approval “is expected in the
near future.”
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