‘Agent Orange Corn’ One Step Closer to Approval
Common Dreams —The genetically engineered product dubbed “Agent Orange corn” by its opponents may be closer to gaining EPA approval after a coalition of farmers dropped its opposition to the Dow product on Tuesday.
The farmer group, the Save Our Crops Coalition (SOCC), had previously denounced ‘Enlist,’ a genetically modified crop able to withstand being sprayed with 2,4-D, one of the components of Agent Orange. But on Tuesday SOCC released a joint statement with Dow, stating that it had resolved its issues, and that “SOCC believes that commitments made by Dow AgroSciences represent substantial measures to mitigate potential non-target plant damage impacts from herbicide spray drift and volatilization associated with 2,4-D tolerant crops.”
Alexis Baden-Mayer, political director at the Organic Consumers Association, tells Common Dreams that “The Save Our Crops Coalition is narrowly focused on the economic interests of farmers whose crops could be injured by 2,4-D herbicide drift.” She adds that “the other thing farmers in the SOCC don’t have to worry about is 2,4-D becoming ineffective against weeds when the weeds acquire the genetically engineered trait that makes Dow’s GMO crops 2,4-D tolerant. This problem will only hurt the farmers growing crops marketed as 2,4-D tolerant. They might work in the short-term, but as we’ve seen with the ‘RoundUp Ready’ and Bt crops, they are quick to pass on their engineered traits to pests.”
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