More GE crops from Monsanto? Enough is enough.
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 21 January 2015 14:00
- Written by editor
... EPA & USDA: Fix your broken systems
When it comes to GE crops and pesticides, USDA and EPA are putting corporate interests above farmers and public health. Tell them to stop.
Dear Paov,
Last night’s State of the Union address missed a key challenge — and opportunity — facing the Obama administration: fixing our food and farming system rules so they serve the interests of farmers, rural communities and public health, rather than corporate bottom lines.
USDA’s approval last week of Monsanto’s latest GE seed/herbicide combo shows just how broken things are. According to the agency’s own data, planting these new cotton and soy crops would result in dramatic increases — up to 500 fold — in the use of Monsanto’s harmful, drift-prone herbicide, dicamba. USDA officials gave their approval anyway.
Fix this broken system » Ironically, Monsanto’s new dicamba-tolerant seeds are designed to combat the “superweed” problem created by their very own RoundUp-ready crops. We think it’s time to tell Secretary Vilsack and Administrator McCarthy enough is enough.
Dicamba, first registered in 1967, is both extremely prone to drift and extremely toxic to broadleaf plants — putting fruits, vegetables and nuts growing in neighboring farms at risk. Steve Smith, Director of Agriculture for one of the nation’s largest tomato processing companies, called the expected surge in dicamba use “the single most serious threat” to specialty crop farmers in the Midwest.
But like last fall’s rubberstamp for 2,4-D crops, USDA’s approval of dicamba-tolerant seeds ignored thousands of comments from concerned farmers. And also like the 2,4-D case, we expect EPA will go along.
Time for leadership » Who’s in charge of evaluating on-the-ground impacts of these new herbicide-tolerant GE crops? Why would we put a product on the market that will make superweeds even more out of control? Tell our public agencies they can and must do more to protect the interests of farmers, rural communities and public health. It’s their job.
Thank you so much for taking a stand!
Pesticide Action Network North America1611 Telegraph Ave. Suite 1200, Oakland, CA 94612 USA
Phone: 510.788.9020 Email:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Web:www.panna.org
Facebook | Twitter | r2
