Do you want to eat crops that have been doused with a component of Agent Orange?
The USDA just began accepting public comments on a plan allowing farmers to plant 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D)-resistant corn and soy, and we only have a few weeks to tell them to reject it. Not only does the plan allow farmers to plant these crops wherever they please without any government oversight, but USDA predictably downplays any and all impacts.
[emailpetition id=”4″]
2,4-D is a toxic herbicide associated with serious health impacts. Dow AgroSciences created these 2,4-D resistant crops so farmers could spray it without killing their corn and soy. But when the same herbicide is sprayed on a field repeatedly, a few naturally resistant weeds survive, reproduce, and eventually take over.
Because farmers did this with Monsanto’s Roundup-resistant crops, fields across the U.S. are now choked with Roundup-resistant weeds. Industry’s solution is to genetically engineer crops to resist a different, more toxic herbicide, in order to kill those resistant weeds.
But make no mistake, these GMO crops will, like their predecessors, lead to much greater use of even more dangerous chemicals, the development of more herbicide-resistant weeds, destruction and genetic contamination of neighboring crops, and severe economic impacts on other farmers.
Please tell the USDA to do a thorough environmental review of these potential threats before allowing these crops to go to market.
