EPA Approves Deadly New Herbicide

[RiverLover]

..."The creation of 2,4-D-resistant crops and EPA’s approval of Enlist Duo for use on them is the result of an overuse of glyphosate, an ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, on the previous generation of genetically engineered crops created to resist glyphosate’s effects. That overuse caused tens of millions of acres of agricultural land to become infested with glyphosate-resistant super weeds, which farmers now want to kill with the more toxic 2,4-D, one of the ingredients in "Agent Orange."

Statement from Earthjustice attorney Paul Achitoff:

"It's very disappointing that EPA is giving the green light to a massive increase in use of 2,4-D, which has been linked to some very serious illnesses, without adequately assessing the impacts on public health.

“EPA hasn't bothered to consult the expert agencies about the herbicide's effects on endangered plants and animals, instead it made the absurd assumption it will have no effect at all. This heedless action merely perpetuates the endless cycle of more genetically engineered crops leading to more pesticide use, leading to more of the same. We are examining all legal options."

http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2014/epa-approves-deadly-new-herbicide-earthjustice-responds?utm_source=crm&utm_content=title

So because of the rampant overuse of toxic Round-up, they want to combat the resulting resistant weeds with an Agent Orange type chemical.

I used to think the EPA was just the Energy Protection Agency, but it turns out they protect Big Ag too, and our health & all of earth's creatures don't factor in at all. And it further illustrates our govt has been taken over by Big $. Who are the real terrorists? Its blurred to me.

[Botany]

1. FYI

Last edited Sun Oct 19, 2014, 10:26 PM - Edit history (1)

2,4-D is not a new herbicide

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Agent Orange was used in Vietnam in the 70's ... so, yeah. nt

[Botany]

11. The plant hormone from which 2,4-D was derived (auxin) has been known and studied ....

.... for over 100 years. 2,4-D came about as a result of WW II work.
It was written up for the first time in the 1940s and started to be used
as a herbicide in 1945. It is 70 years old and hardly a new chemical.

[RiverLover]

12. FYI

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has given preliminary approval to Dow’s Enlist crops, but warned that they would increase annual use of 2,4-D in American agriculture from 26 million pounds a year to as much as 176 million pounds."

...The title used in OP article was not well thought out. But its INCREASED use b/c Dow has a new GMO corn & soy seed that can take it.

[Botany]

15. The title is also a little misleading too

because all herbicides are supposed to be deadly to whatever plant they are
targeted to kill.

[mopinko]

6. dont you just long for sane discussion on some of these issues?

hot button rants is about all there is. agent orange, monsanto, round up, armageddon.

[Botany]

13. I wish for that but I don't see it happening here @ DU.

In my work in planting and doing the up keep of native plants and ecosystems one
the biggest problems is non native invasive plants and removal and or control of
them is very important so as to create a natural areas that can fix carbon, control
water run off, provide critical habitat for native critters,* to make areas that
DO NOT NEED CHEMICALS SUCH AS FERTILIZERS**, HERBICIDES, AND INSECTICIDES,
and inputs of water and sometimes I have to use round up and or 2,4-D. The overuse of
these chemicals have caused many plants to develop resistance to them and that is a real problem.
Freaking day lily (a mass produced and marketed non native weed) has a high level
of resistance to glyphosate.

Sometimes people want simple answers for complex issues.


* such as monarch butterflies, wood thrushes, and humming birds.

** Fertilizers cause many many environment problems and can be toxic on many levels.

[RiverLover]

9. See above

""It's very disappointing that EPA is giving the green light to a massive increase in use of 2,4-D,"

[NV Whino]

2. The stupidity boggles the mind..

[DeSwiss]

4. Mmmmm. Monsanto's new ''Agent Green'' (as in CASH!) pesiticide......

Also in ''Bacon-flavor''

[RiverLover]

7. Along with Dow Chemical & their chemical corn...

"...Seventy (70) health scientists wrote EPA a joint letter urging the Agency to reject Dow Chemical’s application for commercial sale of 2,4-D resistant corn and soybeans. Medical scientists have linked exposure to 2,4-D and herbicides of its class to increased rates of cancer, Parkinson’s disease and low sperm counts, among other effects; children of pesticide applicators where 2,4-D is heavily used suffer higher rates of birth anomalies.

...“2,4-D is not a solution to glyphosate-resistant weeds. Weeds will rapidly evolve resistance to 2,4-D as well if these crops are approved, driving a toxic spiral of ever-increasing herbicide use. Dow’s Enlist crops are a textbook example of unsustainable farming, profiting pesticide companies to the detriment of American farmers, public health and the environment,” added Kimbrell."

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/3122/epa-set-to-approve-increased-use-of-toxic-24-d-on-dows-agent-orange-crops

(Love the pic and caption. Everything's better with Bacon!!)

[Botany]

14. FYI

That person IS NOT SPRAYING 2,4-D in that picture because that would kill
the ferns that are being grown in that greenhouse.

[RiverLover]

18. Wow

Lighten up.

[Botany]

20. no

why should I? You are posting half baked junk. 2,4-D is not new, all herbicides
are supposed to be deadly, and that person in the picture was not using 2,4-D.

[RiverLover]

23. Enlist Duo is new & it combines 2.4-D & glyphosate (roundup)

And its going to be used in massive amounts. The industrialized food machine is spewing poison and its about to get worse. I'm just sharing the articles, I'm not pretending to know everything.

[mopinko]

21. looks like he watering to me.

that's a pretty heavy spray for anything but water.

for every complex problems there is an answer that is simple, popular, and wrong.
but try to explain that around here.

[Botany]

22. I'm in the plant biz

That person is not watering ..... an operation like the one in the picture would already
have an irrigation system hooked up and you don't wear protective gear just to water.
It looks like they are growing Boston Ferns @ that greenhouse and my guess is they
are spraying for spider mites or some kind of "bug" and for that you use a miticide
or an insecticide not a herbicide like 2,4-D. But what the hell this is the internet and the
truth can be what you want it to be.

Did I ever tell you about the DUer who saw a man walking into an Olive Garden after
buying some round up to meet w/a man who works for Monsanto to buy some GMO
seeds for his farm?

[mopinko]

26. good insight.

i figured he had the protective gear on for a reason. but that is a big ass spray he is laying down.

you didnt tell me the story, but did i tell you the one about the du'er who could see through the interwebs, and saw that i wanted to kidnap a little boy and force him to eat roundup laced chicken parmesan? (almost true)

[Botany]

28. a true DU story

did I ever tell you when I posted that it looked like Ray Rice and his fiance
were having a fight prior to the time he punched her that I supported violence
against women ..... even though I wrote what he did was wrong and I posted a
story about a time a friend and I stopped a very large drunk man from beating his
wife?

BTW was the little boy breast feeding at an Olive Garden when you wanted to
kidnap him?

BTW part 2 ..... if that is a large commercial grower then that sized of a sprayer
is not unusual.


BTW part 3 ..... I suppose it doesn't serve any purpose to post that I have 4 yr degree
in botany/ecology, 30 years field experience, a certified nurseryman, a certified arborist,
and I have run my own little biz in which I try to specialize in native plants and ecological
restoration.

mopinko

[mopinko]

29. oh, i know all about you.

lol. i look for your posts for sane, experienced science insights.

and i keep meaning to post a pic of a plant from my farm. i guess i have to do that now.
do you know your mushrooms? i have a lot of them popping up, but i am pretty hopeless on the subject.

no, i rented to the family because i wanted to kidnap the boy. i was hoping to get him taken away, so i made bogus calls to the cops. true story.

[Botany]

31. I know a little bit about mushrooms

The mushrooms that you see are the fruiting body of a fungus and in most cases
the fungus lives on old wood and roots of dead trees and pop up when the conditions
are right. In most cases they are just doing nature's work of breaking down old wood
and recycling it back into the soil.

[mopinko]

33. that much i know.

i have a pretty large hugelkultur project, and we are counting on the fungi.
we are hoping to sow some of the more marketable varieties. we had a nice little crop of wine caps this year.
lots of wild ones popped up this week with the cold rainy weather we have had.

i need to learn this stuff. argh. my head has expanded about 200% in the 3 years since i started this project.

[Botany]

35. You can harvest some of the spores and "sow" them onto a mix of wood chips, cow manure,

compost, and native tree twigs.* But you should ID the type of mushroom and what kind
of medium that it grows best on. Also when you are harvesting wild mushrooms leave
every forth or fifth one alone.

* If you are lucky and get some mycelium (white treads) going then you might be able
to inoculate some logs or something.

[mopinko]

38. i suspect we are pretty well inoculated.

mostly built from local trees, most with at least some dead wood.

there is a local guy who is trying to culture some local varieties. he did the wine caps for me on some straw that i had on a straw potato patch. they did great, ran all over the patch.

he has been some help, but he is very busy starting a business.

i think i have at least one medicinal, aside from the bazillion turkey tales.
i did some dowel spores on some logs, but with mixed success. some did nothing, other i have the knobs all over the logs, but so far no fruit.
still time this year, tho. should have a boodle of chix of the woods one of these days.

need those edibles, tho. need that cash crop while i wait for the fungi to do their thing.

[mopinko]

30. this

[Botany]

32. That is pokeweed

It is kind of a messy plant but lots of birds and native pollinators use it so if
it is in an out of the way spot sometimes I will leave it alone. If it is growing
in a garden or a landscaped area get rid of it. You can cut their main stem at
ground level with a spade, shovel, or a hoe. The fruits can be toxic to humans
and cattle so don't make a dinner of it and keep your milk cow away from it.

It also responses nicely to round up, 2,4-D, and agent orange.

[mopinko]

34. arent the leaves edible?

i kinda knew it was toxic, but something is eating it.

it is growing on a pile that is not ready to plant, so it is ok for this season.
then, if i cant get a tactical nuke, i will go with the agent orange. indeed.

the city is up my ass about the whole project. dumb shit. but what you get when you tell a bureaucrat to get the hell off your property and dont come back. apparently.

[Botany]

36. arent the leaves edible?

they might be but I prefer swiss chard.

BTW lots of plants are "edible" but they taste like shit .... btw part 2
lots of birds and insects insects can use plants that are toxic to humans.

i.e. birds can eat poison ivy fruits and I think leaf cutter bees can use the
leaf tissue ....... but I like my food from GMO round up ready crops that my
friends @ Monsanto make.

If you are going to be growning a food or ornimental crop where the pokeweed
is now pull it up and try not to scatter the fruits ..... if you get some popping up
next spring they "hoe out" with no problem but that new 2.4-D Round up Mix
looks just too good to pass up on.

[mopinko]

39. yeah, i have some great chard.

i grow the pretty stuff whenever i can, which is why people who actually walk the place love it.
the google street view doesnt really show the place, du expert opinion to the contrary.

but maybe i should just sell the place and invest in monsanto.
then i can kidnap more little boys.

man, i miss the old du sometimes. not that it was all that different, but at least i wasnt so much a target of the swarm.

[Botany]

40. At least you and me never hijack a thread

[Enthusiast]

5. This is a horrible misstep by the EPA.

[valerief]

8. Elite Profiteer Agency. nt

[RiverLover]

10. That's true too! nmi

[ZombieHorde]

16. I'm glad the EPA is using science

instead of the crazy fear mongering of Earth Justice.

Who are the real terrorists? Its blurred to me.

There are no such thing as terrorists. Some people are just more violent toward humans than others. "Terrorist" is a stupid label, in my opinion.

[NickB79]

17. In ten years, we'll be hearing about weeds resistant to Round-Up AND 2,4-D

Remember kids, Mother Nature bats last, and she swings for the fucking fences.

[RiverLover]

25. So true, but Dow is saying otherwise

That's why the 2 herbicides are being combined. They -say- they believe its highly unlikely a weed could become resistant to the double whammy of both roundup & 2,4-D combined in one herbicide(Enlist Duo). And they say its 2.4-D Choline which means it won't spread to other land like 2,4-D alone does. And this all was greenlighted by the EPA to be used in massive amounts, allowing 2.4-D to be spread into our environment like never before.

[NickB79]

27. It's all about statistics

It is unlikely any single plant would possess both resistance to 2,4-D and Round-Up.

But when you look at the tens of billions of weed seedlings sprayed annually, and extrapolate that out over a few years, it's almost inevitable that at least some mutants will arise that can survive. A one-in-a-billion risk sounds low, unless you have many, many billions of potential risks growing at once.

And with all their competition wiped out, they will seed and spread.

[RiverLover]

19. EPA is being sued for this

Great news, thanks to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Dow Chemical will be fighting this hard though, very hard.

EPA Sued by Natural Defense Council Over Enlist Duo
Added by Oliver Malcom on October 18, 2014.

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was sued by the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) over the approval of Enlist Duo, a Dow AgroScience product. The lawsuit was filed soon after the EPA approved the weed control product. The NRDC contends Enlist Duo will further deplete the monarch butterfly population and it is also a risk to human health.

Enlist Duo, a herbicide, contains glyphosate and 2,4-D rousing health, wildlife, and environmental concerns. 2,4-D is a known component in Agent Orange. It has been linked to life-long health conditions and severe birth defects, as well as deaths. Dow hoped to sell specialty crops along with Enlist Duo in the 2015 U.S. planting season.

...Concerns from opposing environmentalists, organic consumers, and farmers are running rampant. They claim 2,4-D, which is a component of Enlist, has been linked to Parkinson’s disease, reproductive issues, and other health conditions. Another concern is the possibility that the herbicide may harm neighboring farms. The EPA states it has made the decision based on sound science and conservative measurements. Yet, opponents and neighbors point to over 70 million acres affected by super weeds. These weeds have tolerance to Round up Ready System, which is another herbicide product used by farmers. Moreover, the Natural Defense Council’s lawsuit is an effort to prevent the EPA from allowing Dow to sell Enlist Duo until further tests are done and other agencies are included in the process.

...The EPA being sued by the Natural Defense Council is something Dow had not considered. Dow figured the approval had cleared the way for its soybean and corn that have been genetically modified. European Union members and the U.S. have been at odds with regard to modified foods. As a result, this conflict has caused a multi-billion dollar agricultural imbalance. Dow expects to double its earnings from the Dow AgroScience division in seven years or less.

http://guardianlv.com/2014/10/epa-sued-by-natural-defense-council-over-enlist-duo/#RYAdcmUXeGX1xUpy.99

[RiverLover]

24. Organic organization issues statement

Organic Consumers Condemns EPA Approval of Dow Enlist Duo Herbicide
October 15, 2014

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) issued the following statement:

“The EPA’s approval of this highly toxic herbicide flies in the face of scientific evidence that not only are these chemicals toxic to humans and the environment, but that the escalation of their use will only lead to the evolution of a whole new crop of herbicide-resistant superweeds,” said Ronnie Cummins, international director of the Organic Consumers Association and its Mexico affiliate, Via Organica.

“The EPA has failed in its mission to protect the environment, just as the biotech industry’s toxic, chemical-intensive industrial agriculture has failed to deliver on its promises of higher yields and higher profits for farmers, and fewer poisons for the environment.

“Absent any promise of real protection, much less common-sense governing policies by government agencies like the EPA and USDA, it’s now clearly up to consumers to shut down this treadmill of higher doses of increasingly toxic poisons. OCA will ramp up our campaigns to pass mandatory GMO labeling laws, and our campaigns to connect the dots between GMO crops, like Dow’s Enlist corn and soy, and meat, egg and dairy products produced on factory farms which are huge consumers of GMO crops."

“We will also continue to push for farm bill policies that promote organic, regenerative agriculture over an industrial model that is destroying our health, polluting our environment, and has been identified as one of the leading causes of global warming.”

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_31189.cfm

[FogerRox]

37. These 2 chemicals have been mixed by the applicator in the past -TriMec and Roundup.

TriMec is 24-d and Dicamba.

[RiverLover]

41. Roundup has never before been combined with 2,4-D (agent orange ingredient)

Round up is glyphosate.

Dicamba is an herbicide, but its a derivative of benzoic acid & its not in roundup...for now.

It looks like Monsanto wants to combine Roundup & Dicamba in a new herbicide for its new freaky GMO soybeans...

August 21, 2014
"Monsanto’s new soybean seeds are intended for use with Monsanto’s new stronger weed killer. The new herbicide from Monsanto will be branded as Roundup Xtend. RoundUp Xtend combines the current herbicide glyphosate with the weed killer dicamba. RoundUp Xtend is expected to be deregulated despite public concern.

Earlier this month, Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, senior scientist with the Pesticide Action Network North America, told Reuters, “We are outraged.” She explained, “Despite all of this public outcry, what these decisions show is that USDA is much more interested in working with Dow and Monsanto and getting their products to market than in protecting the public.”

...Monsanto’s chief technology officer Robert Fraley said the company is “on track for U.S. regulatory approval toward the end of the year.” International approvals are anticipated by Monsanto in 2015. Monsanto calls the looming approval a huge step forward in progress.

RoundUp, the current weed killer of choice, has been linked to Parkinson’s disease, the disease Robin Williams was diagnosed with before his suicide. The gylphosate component in RoundUp has also been linked to cancers, kidney disease and other diseases. BizJournals reports, “Monsanto has been seeking approval for the seeds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture since 2010, but the process has been slowed due to pushback from environmental groups.”

http://www.inquisitr.com/1423392/monsanto-expects-2014-approval-of-gm-soybean-resistant-to-stronger-herbicides/

[FogerRox]

42. My point: Pesticide Applicators have mixed both for decades.

And yet you say "never".

TO be correct please say something like, the manufacturer has never offered both in the same jug.