Photo:TWD
Trump Administration allows the use of banned and potentially harmful herbicides
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily | JUNE 9th 2020
It was announced on Monday by the United States’ Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that farmers are permitted to use the existing supplies of a weed killing product that’s been scientifically linked to crop damage, following the declaration of a ban on such products.
A federal court had already banned both the sales and use of the agricultural weed killing product sold by Bayer AG only last week, following hazardous claims that the carcinogenic product often drifts and damage crops that aren’t resistant to the chemical. As well as this, there are also concerns from independent researchers revealing a rather strong connection between glyphosate (the world’s most widely used pesticide, largely used as a weed killer) and cancer in humans.
Farmers are permitted to use their existing supplies of dicamba-based herbicides, specifically the ones that they already had on hand as of June 3, until July 31. It was on June 3 when a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that the EPA had been guilty of severely understating the consequences and risks in relation to the use of the herbicides.
The herbicides are sprayed on genetically modified soybeans and cotton, which have developed more of a resistance to glyphosate. According to Bayer, somewhere around 60% of the US soybean crops yield this year is anticipated to be seeded using Bayer's dicamba-resistant Xtend soybeans.
“No American should believe for a second that Trump and EPA chief Andrew Wheeler ever give a thought to whether their policies could harm public health,” said the Environmental Working Group president Ken Cook, following the administration and EPA’s previous claims that the products were ‘safe’, earlier in the year.
“EPA's order will mitigate some of the devastating economic consequences of the court's decision for growers,” the EPA defended in a statement. “And particularly rural communities, at a time they are experiencing great stress due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.”
After the court ruling had been made and decided, several farm states had come forth to state that they would continue to allow dicamba spraying and that they’d wait for a response from the EPA for the sake of guidance.
The agency had almost immediately been urged to reaffirm that use of the dicamba herbicides had been ruled illegal, by plaintiffs on the court case against the EPA. These primarily involved environmental safety and health groups.
A report published over a year ago by Environmental Sciences Europe had documented the EPA’s frequent ignorance to a rising amount of independent, peer-reviewed studies linking the chemical glyphosate to the emergence of cancer in humans. The report found, instead, that the EPA had used research that had been paid for by Monsanto -an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation- in order to continue support for the agency’s position that the chemical glyphosate isn’t carcinogenic.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs followed up the EPA’s announcement with a statement, that “Today’s disingenuous order from the EPA flies in the face of the court decision holding these pesticides unlawful.”
By Patryk Krych | © The World Daily 2020
