USDA May Lift Restrictions on Use of Seeds Resistant to Herbicide Used in Agent Orange!

While we’ve been seeing a whole lot of good news on the GMO front lately, the winning streak can’t last forever, Green Monsters. Until the war against GMOs and all the chemicals associated with their use is won, we are bound to encounter battles of all kinds, and this is certainly one of them: The U.S. government is now reviewing a proposal from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that would eliminate restrictions on the use of GMO corn and soybean seeds (brand name: “Enlist”) engineered to resist 2, 4-D, an herbicide produced by Dow Chemical and a former component of “Agent Orange.”

According to the Huffington Post, 2,4-D has had restricted use in corn and soybean seed “because it becomes toxic to the plants early in their growth. The new seeds would allow farmers to use the weed killer throughout the plants’ lives.” It is one of many herbicides that has been, according to The Center for Food Safety (CFS), “independently associated with deadly immune system cancers, Parkinson’s disease, endocrine disruption, and reproductive problems.”

Many farmers across the country welcome the deregulation of these corn and soybean seeds, due to the proliferation of weeds that have become resistant to Monsanto’s Roundup. Herbicide-resistant seeds allow farmers to spray their fields after the plants emerge, thus leaving the crops “unharmed” but killing the weeds.

According to a report via the Huffington Post, however, “skeptics are concerned that use of the new seeds and 2,4-D will only lead to similar problems as weeds acquire resistance to that chemical too.”

“This is among the worst applications of biotechnology,” said Andrew Kimbrell, the executive director of the Center for CFS. “‘Agent Orange crops’ are designed to survive a chemical assault with 2,4-D. They will increase the use of toxic pesticides in industrial agriculture while providing absolutely no benefit to consumers.”

One study by researchers at Penn State University has projected that “widespread cultivation of 2,4 D resistant soybeans would trigger a substantial increase in the use of 2,4-D. The crops would increase agricultural use of 2,4-D to over 100 million lbs. per year, four times current levels.”

Kimbrell asserts this would translate to potential sickness in rural communities: “Any increase in the use of 2,4-D with Enlist corn and soybeans will hit rural communities especially hard, as numerous medical studies have linked 2,4-D and related herbicides to increased rates of cancer and Parkinson’s disease as well as low sperm counts in farmers, and to birth anomalies in their children,” he said.

Though Dow Chemical has been marketing “Enlist” corn and soybean seeds to farmers as a positive response to “Roundup-ready” crops, not all farmers are on board, either.

“When Dow Chemical and Monsanto first brought out GE crops, they assured us their new, expensive seeds would clean up our environment and reduce pesticide use.  That didn’t happen,” said CFS board member and corn and soybean farmer George Naylor.  “Today weeds are resistant to Roundup and many farmers are using older, more deadly pesticides to kill them.  2,4-D corn and soybeans just keep us on the same old pesticide treadmill; it’s a terrible idea.”

The good news is that this potential move to lift restrictions on these seeds has been opposed already.

According to CFS, the USDA’s review of 2,4-D corn and soybeans comes “despite intense opposition from over 365,000 individuals, 48 medical and health professionals, and 144 farm, fishery, public health, consumer and environmental groups and private businesses who registered objections with USDA.”

And, the even better news is that you can take action right now: if you’re opposed to the lifting of restrictions on this generation of GMO seeds, sign CFS’s petition here!

As part of the normal deregulation process, the public has 45 days to comment on the USDA report to move these seeds forward. Let’s spend 45 days telling the government we don’t want more GMO seeds and more chemicals used on our Earth!