GMOsHealth & DiseaseSoil Erosion & ContaminationWater Contaminaton & Loss

Monsanto’s New GMO Cotton Will Unleash a Triple Whammy of Toxic Herbicides

If you are still reeling from the news of the latest round of approvals for “Agent Orange” corn and soy, please sit down. More hopped up toxic combinations are on the way. Monsanto has a new “triple stack” GMO cotton up for deregulation with tolerance to dicamba, glyphosate, and glufosinate herbicides. They call it another “tool” for fighting superweeds. These glyphosate-resistant weeds have more than doubled since 2009 and are currently spread over 70 million acres.

Dicamba is a strong herbicide that has been associated with a number of health and environmental effects including reproductive effects, neurotoxicity, kidney/liver damage, not to mention that dicamba, like 2,4-D, is toxic to fish, toxic to birds, and harmful to pets.

People are becoming increasingly alarmed about the escalation to greater and greater amounts of toxic chemicals, and what appears to be an extraordinary insensitivity to public opinion. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), and other members of Congress are speaking up. “Right now we are witnessing agribusiness attempt to wield its powerful influence over federal regulators. They want EPA and USDA to rubberstamp another set of genetically engineered crops rather than listen to the scientific community,” says Rep. Peter DeFazio, (D-Oregon).

EPA Approves Dow’s new Super Toxic Superweed Cocktail over Protests from 50 Federal Lawmakers

Oct 15 – In spite of an outpouring of public concern including a strongly worded letter signed by 50 members of Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency gave final approval to Dow Agrosciences’ new Enlist Duo herbicide, a double whammy combination of glyphosate plus 2,4-D aimed at knocking down the onslaught of superweeds that have grown resistant to glyphosate alone, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup. The approvals of Dow’s “Agent Orange” crop system with resistance to 2,4,-D escalates the “war” on superweeds to a new level of chemical warfare.

50 congressional members – led by Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon, and Chellie Pingree, D-Maine – expressed a chilling concern:

We are also concerned that EPA failed to thoroughly examine all of the significant health and environmental risks of 2,4-D including that of inhalation and aggregate exposure; the risks of 2,4-D exposure to threatened and endangered species; and the risks posed by shifts in use patterns of 2,4-D as a result of the GE cropping systems. Most alarming is EPA’s failure to apply the additional safety factor of 10x, as mandated under the Food Quality Protection Act, to protect children, who are especially susceptible to harm from pesticide exposure. The 10-fold safety factor is required by law to safeguard against the potential health risks for young children and infants that would result from the widespread use of 2,4-D on GE crops.

The 10-fold safety factor refers specifically to cumulative risk assessments which may be required to take into account potential pre- and postnatal exposure. Detailed information is available from the EPA Office of Pesticide Programs (PDF).

Reach out to these legislators if you know them and thank them, or send a letter to your representative if not a part of this group and urge their further investigation.

Download PDF of the full letter to EPA and USDA.

  • Did your representative sign the letter? Send a thank you note. Click here for a draft copy you can edit with your information.
  • Uh oh, your representative wasn’t one of the 50 to sign the letter? Send a letter urging him or her to consider your point of view. Click here for a draft copy you can edit with your information.

3 Comments

  1. Well, they wanted to spy on everyone but I think that those theys may have hate overload here. I can do without corn, soy, wheat and a few other foods and be happy with not knowing everything, but COTTON!!! I cant live withoht my cotton.. :.(

  2. Starting some years ago my daughter & her husband wanted to start a family. Each pregnancy (6) terminated/miscarried by the 6th month. After the 5th miscarriage I was sending her all kinds information about the importance of eating Organics and she was attempting to change her diet, she was still so polluted that she lost the 6th. The 7th pregnancy brought into the world my beautiful grand daughter Roberta Lynn, now 4 years of age. The next pregnancy was our beautiful grand son Aaron Wesley, now 2. They were all started out on organics but my daughter has reverted back to some old habits. Both children have food allergies and Aaron is having some kind of rash/hive outbreak.Grandma needs to gently remind daughter about the importance of organic again.

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