EPA proposes allowing use of Dicamba weed killer on some crops
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Dicamba became one of the most widely used herbicides on the market after agribusiness companies such as Monsanto released genetically engineered seeds that could tolerate it in 2016. The idea was that farmers could spray their fields with dicamba and weeds would wilt while the crops would survive.
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Dicamba-tolerant seeds were developed in response to growing weed tolerance to another widely used herbicide, glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup.
Starting in the 1990s, Monsanto marketed genetically engineered 'Roundup Ready' crop seeds alongside the popular herbicide Roundup. This line of corn, cotton and soy seeds was bred to resist glyphosate, and by 2011 more than 90% of soybeans grown in the U.S. were genetically engineered.
The EPA's decision drew an immediate rebuke from the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental advocacy group that has sued over the use of dicamba. In a statement, Nathan Donley, the group's environmental health science director said, 'this is what happens when pesticide oversight is controlled by industry lobbyists.'
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Last month, Kyle Kunkler, a former soybean industry lobbyist who has been a vocal proponent of dicamba, joined the EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention as its deputy assistant administrator.
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