2,4-D (Key Herbicide) Showing Signs Of Losing Effectiveness - Reuters

[hatrack]

(Reuters) - As U.S. farmers struggle to control the rise of "superweeds" choking key crop land, a leading herbicide known as 2,4-D that has shown good weed control for decades appears to be losing its effectiveness, a report from a science journal said on Wednesday.

Chemical makers have been racing to find an answer to resistance that has built up against the broadly used glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide, and they had hoped 2,4-D was at least a partial answer to the problem of how to stop weeds that can reach 6 foot tall or more and decimate crop production.

Dow Chemical unit Dow AgroSciences is seeking federal regulatory approval to roll out corn, soybeans and cotton that are genetically altered to tolerate treatments of glyphosate and a 2,4-D based herbicide by Dow called Enlist.

The aim is to wipe out weeds that have become resistant to glyphosate alone. Many critics have protested Dow's plans, citing fears of increasing weed resistance along with other environmental concerns. But Dow has said its new herbicide and 2,4-D cropping system is needed to fight back the weeds that have taken over millions of acres of key U.S. farmland.

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/15/us-usa-agriculture-weeds-idUSBRE87E13420120815

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1. taking it to the logical conclusion, someday, dow will sell us weeds and call it food.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

5. Weeds are food

If You Can't Beat 'Em, Eat 'Em!
10 Common Edible Weeds
http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/weeds-edible-plants-0409

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6. true enough ;) i've always known about dandilions, and we actually have a fair amount of chives

in our lawn. i think a previous owner must have dumped some out long ago and they just grew and spread.

smells nice at least!

[KT2000]

2. Good

maybe they will stop putting it into the weed & feed products.

This is a perfect example of perverse capitalism. If they can make money off of glyphosate and 2,4-D, why not saturate the globe in the stuff - farms, neighborhoods, parks, city gardens. That way they can make tons of money. But oops - like the overuse of antibiotics, they killed the golden goose. But hey - some people got really rich doing this.

[MuseRider]

3. 2,4-D is a nasty mess.

Stuff scares me. I don't use it on my farm but I used to. When I started I had no idea and this is what the Noxious Weed fellows told me to use. Nasty stuff.

We are going to be in big trouble one day very soon and we have Dow, Monsanto and the others to thank for it. I wonder who they will blame?

[XemaSab]

4. Evil-ution is teh faek!

Climate change is a socialist plot!

There are more spotted owls now than there were when Culumbus landed in teh Mayflower!

Al Gore is fat!

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7. i've always found 2,4-d to be feeble.

back when i used to use that kind of stuff on my lawn, i tried this and it was remarkably ineffective, even after repeated applications and trying higher concentrations than directed.

that round-up crap sure works, though. nowadays the weeds don't bother me as much as the chemicals do, but round-up was great for the grass that grows between the sidewalk segments and in driveway cracks and such. i also used it once on an entire "lawn" when i had a new 1-year old house that the previous owner had managed to ruin in that time. i made a beautiful lawn of kentucky bluegrass instead of the random mix of mostly weeds towering over 8 random ugly grasses.

these days i just mow it and don't worry about it. the house i'm in now has a mature lawn that seems to do fine on its own.