The poison can drift up to 100 miles, and may be in your water! Action Alert!
Remember our article from February about the strain of corn that has been genetically engineered to withstand the herbicide 2,4-D, one of the active ingredients in Agent Orange? Here’s the sequel: Dow AgroSciences has petitioned USDA for the deregulation of a new genetically engineered soybean seed that is resistant to the same infamous herbicide. Agent Orange, you may recall, was used in Vietnam as chemical warfare, and devastated a generation of both the Vietnamese and the American soldiers who used it.
The USDA has already released a plant pest assessment stating that “the DAS-68416-4 soybean is highly unlikely to pose a plant pest risk.” The agency’s draft environmental assessment stated that their “preferred alternative” was to deregulate. Even so, we need to file our protests now. This will also lay the groundwork for possible later court action.
Deregulation of this toxic new soybean seed would be a financial boon for Dow. About half of all US farmland is planted in corn and soy, and about 90 percent of soy and 70 percent of corn are from Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” seeds—that is, they’ve been engineered to withstand Roundup, Monsanto’s herbicide. The problem, as we’ve noted before, is that “superweeds” are becoming resistant to Roundup. So Dow has genetically engineered a soybean that can withstand an even more toxic herbicide, 2,4-D, the Agent Orange ingredient. This gives Dow a chance to make a tidy profit and try to grab some of the market from Monsanto.
This poison has been shown to get into drinking water, and has a tendency to drift up to 100 miles on the breeze. It has been shown to cause non-Hodgkins lymphoma and to act as an endocrine disruptor. It is carcinogenic, a neurotoxin, causes liver and kidney damage, and produces birth defects. Nor is there any research on how 2,4-D and glyphosate affect human and wildlife health in combination.
Action Alert! USDA’s comment period for this new genetically engineered soy is now open. Please write the agency today and ask them not to deregulate this soybean and open the way for widespread use of this Agent Orange herbicide! Please take action today!
It is so sickening that we are constantly reduced to begging not to be poisoned. We fight back with signatures and they just laugh and blow us off.
STOP KILLING THE PEOPLE AND THE AMERICAN FARMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stop the Madness there is know other Earth to move to!
It would be a mistake to deregulate 2,4-D and glyphosate until there is a lot more research done to
determine the affect on humans and wildlife. Please do not deregulate this product.
And who will pay for the research to be done? The chemical companies?. How many honest studies have the chemical companies done on them in the amount of time these products have been on the market? How many more people need to get sick, die, or be born with birth defects before you deem it wise to take them off the market? Dow and the rest need to adopt a business practice that looks at the true cost accounting for their products instead of being so stuck in the old school ways of profit at any cost.
MORE research????? Am I misunderstanding you Joyce Leggat?t – my husband DIED from Agent Orange 45 years after he served in Nam – I now receive compensation from the government for that fact. They owned it -why cant you?? Do you work for one of the companies that develop it? Shame on you
What else is new? Our food sources are being corrupted by the day. Humans will come close to annihilating all life from this planet in the last days.
Please do not allow deregulation of any crops. Our people cannot withstand all the poisons that are out there now. You would be adding to the list by deregulation of any crops. It is killing our population and can only get worse.
I am a chemical sensitive who suffers from pollution levels that are said to be “safe.”
The last thing that I need is more pollution from anything anywhere…
and “Agent Orange” chemicals do seem to be among the worst.
Roundup is deadly. Agent Orange is deadly. We need less spraying of our food, not more.
I am living in Europe at present and cannot help. Your forms allow only US addresses.
Yes, our software only allows US addresses to prevent spamming.
In the last line of the suggested email to Sec. Vilsack, should it be “corn” or “soy?”
Fixed thanks
The ANH explanation of the proposal to approve the new soybean is inaccurate. The United States did NOT use Agent Orange in Vietnam as a means of chemical warfare, but as part of a defoliation program. This is important in understanding the character of the Vietnam War. Herbicides were used not to kill or injure civilians, but to eliminate vegetation which served as cover for enemy guerrillas. Defoliation also had the effect of driving the rural population into American-controlled cities.
Yes, but it doubled as a veeeery effective chemical warfare agent, even though it was not intended, (OR WAS IT?!) AND MOST of our soldiers came back sick, & now are dying of diseases caused by Agent Orange–cancers..etc. etc. Their lives were totally ruined–no quality of life to ever look forward to. IT SHOULD BE OUTLAWED ALL OVER THE WORLD…PERIOD!!! So, now they want to kill the rest of us off, just to make a few more bucks.
2-4D is caustic and should not be used on anything ment for consumption. Human and animals have been having odd cancers since it was first used. I know for a fact it is used on feed corn and alfalfa for cattle. This is past on to us unknowingly. Sick and wrong. Monsanto is a swollen paracite on this earth. This engineering is creepy and the fallout is starting to get ugly. God Bless America! No one else seems to care.
They (Monsanto, Dow) Need to eat their own poisons. Stop poisoning the rest of us. We should have the choice if we want to eat nasty poisons in our foods.