Corn, soybean farmers await EPA ruling on new herbicide use

WASHINGTON – Faced with tougher and more resistant weeds, corn and soybean farmers are anxiously awaiting government decisions on a new version of a popular herbicide – and on genetically modified seeds to grow crops designed to resist it.

Critics say more study is needed on the effects of the herbicide, and they are concerned it could endanger public health.

The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to rule this fall on Dow AgroSciences’ application to market Enlist, a new version of the 2,4-D herbicide that’s been around since the 1940s. It’s partly a game of catch-up for the agriculture industry, as many farmers are dealing with weeds that have become resistant to glyphosate, an herbicide commonly used on corn and soybeans now.

If approved, the 2,4-D would be used in combination with glyphosate.

An Agriculture Department decision on the company’s genetically modified seeds also is expected this fall. In the department’s final environmental review released last week, the USDA recommended approval. The agency said that if both the seeds and herbicide are approved, the use of 2,4-D could increase by an estimated 200 to 600 percent by the year 2020.

While the USDA only oversees the safety of the plants, the EPA oversees the safety of the herbicide for human and environmental health. The agency has already found the chemical safe several times for other species, the public and agricultural workers.

Groups lobbying the agency to prevent the herbicide’s expanded use say they are concerned about the toxic effects of the herbicide and the potential for it to drift.

Scott Faber of the Environmental Working Group said the EPA studies so far have not been comprehensive enough and need to look more closely into the effects of pesticides on children.

“This is a once-in-a-generation decision that will have a huge impact on public health, especially on farmers and rural residents,” Faber said. Damon Palmer of Dow AgroSciences says the new version has been re-engineered to solve potential problems, like drift before and after the herbicide hits the plant.

Critics expressed concern that weeds will eventually become resistant to the new herbicide, too. George Naylor, an Iowa farmer on the board of the advocacy group Center for Food Safety, called it a “pesticide treadmill” that needs to be slowed down.

Palmer of Dow AgroSciences said the company has created the new seeds with “multiple locks on the door” in an effort to avoid increased weed resistance.