EPA Approves Registration of Dow Chemical's Enlist Duo, Herbicide Containing 2, 4-D and Glyphosate

Since the commercial availability of glyphosate as an herbicide (e.g. Monsanto's Roundup) and the creation, also by Monsanto, of genetically modified (GM) crops that can withstand its application, weeds have developed their own defense mechanism to survive being sprayed. These "super weeds" have become a problem for large scale farmers in the field and have resulted in an increase in the volume of herbicides being applied on fields planted with GM crops. What better way to deal with this problem than to create an even stronger weed killer that combines two pesticides together for use on genetically modified corn and soy bean plants engineered to withstand both 2, 4-D and glyphosate? This is exactly what Dow AgroSciences has done with Enlist Duo.

In its announcement that this decision ensures protection of human health and non-targeted species, EPA has included restrictions on when and how it can be applied as well as monitoring and reporting requirements to ensure that weeds do not become resistant. EPA will also review its approval in six years. This approval only applies to the six states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin). EPA is accepting comments until November 14th on registering Enlist Duo in the states of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee and North Dakota.   

In its press release Dow writes "EPA Registration Supports Company's Progress against Key Strategic Targets" and refers to the commercialization of Enlist Duo that will be used with its Enlist corn and soybeans as "necessary, innovative technology that is expected to deliver significant growth for Dow."

Reuters UK October 15 edition reported (October 15, 2014) that EPA received more than 400,000 comments about Enlist Duo and that the Environmental Working Group presented a petition with over 77,000 names requesting denial of the application.

In response to its decision The Natural Resources Defense Council immediately filed a lawsuit challenging EPA's decision. 
 
"Enlist Duo™ should not have been approved for a host of reasons, including some that are directly relevant to human health, like:

• Multiple streams of evidence (including molecular, animal, and epidemiologic studies) demonstrating adverse impacts of 2,4-D on the thyroid;
• High potential for infants, children, and women of child-bearing age to be exposed to Enlist Duo™ via air, food, and water;
• The complete absence of information on how the combination of 2,4-D and glyphosate will impact human and ecological health (including habitats for the iconic Monarch butterfly); and
• EPA’s hopelessly out-of-date health risk assessment for glyphosate (the last EPA human health risk assessment for glyphosate was completed over 21 years ago)." http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kpullen/question_answered_epa_approves.html