STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSES MOUTH

Duane A. Lienemann
UNL Extension Educator

     Oh gosh, where do I start this week?  I guess perhaps with what I feel is good news for area farmers. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week approved the use of Enlist Duo which will provide a new tool to help farmers manage troublesome weeds while growing “genetically engineered” corn and soybeans. The EPA’s decision allows the use of Dow Chemical Co.’s new herbicide in six Midwestern states:  Ill., Ind., Iowa, Ohio, SD., and Wis. The agency is accepting comments until Nov. 14, 2014 on whether to register in 10 more states including Nebraska and Kansas, all subject to certain restrictions. This breakthrough technology will likely soon be approved for use with Enlist corn and soybeans right here in Nebraska. EPA’s decision is the final step in the federal regulatory process for the Enlist system. The Enlist corn and soybean traits were deregulated by the USDA on Sept. 17, 2014 and this now completes the cycle to give us a new tool.
     For you that haven’t kept up on this, “Enlist Duo” consists of a common pesticide known by the brand name Roundup plus a slight variation on another pesticide that has been used for many, many years 2,4-D. The approved formulation contains the choline salt of 2,4-D which is less prone to drift than the other forms of 2,4-D. The Agency has also put in place restrictions to avoid pesticide drift, including a 30-foot in-field “no spray” buffer zone around the application area, no pesticide application when the wind speed is over 15 mph, and only ground applications are permitted. 
     To ensure that weeds will not become resistant to 2,4-D and continue increased herbicide use, EPA is imposing a new, robust set of requirements on the registrant. These requirements include extensive surveying and reporting to EPA, grower education and remediation plans. The registration will expire in six years, allowing EPA to revisit the issue of resistance. In the future, the agency intends to apply this approach to weed resistance management for all existing and new herbicides used on herbicide tolerant crops. This action provides an additional tool for the ag community to manage resistant weeds.   
     Both Glyphosate and 2,4-D have long been in use in agriculture and around homes and are two of the most widely used herbicides to control weeds in the world. Farmers have been pushing for approval of Enlist Duo for years as an alternative to Monsanto’s Roundup system, which includes a weed killer and “Roundup Ready” crops. It was released a year ago in Canada. This release in the MidWest is welcome to most of our farmers for one particular big reason. It is a well-known fact that some weeds have developed immunity to Roundup and have become problematic and this gives us a great tool.
     There has been a big push by environmentalist groups like EarthJustice and Label Now to keep the new product off the market and in fact I addressed some misinformation on it that was being pushed by Dr. Oz.  The main talking point by these groups is that they say it has “Agent Orange” in the ingredients, which has been banned. That just is not true and yet they highlight all of their arguments with that statement along with the moniker that Dr. Oz put forward as this being a “GMO pesticide, which is also not factual because this pesticide has no DNA so obviously it cannot be genetically modified. 
     The confusion comes from the addition of 2.4-D which is a common name for the chemical 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid.  2,4-D plus another form of this chemical family 2,4, 5-T, were indeed components of Agent Orange, which was an herbicidal weapon the United States military used in the Vietnam War. As a Vietnam Era college student I can tell you that there are lots of awful stories about that chemical and it is troubling that those against this newly introduced pesticide use that as their major talking point. Maybe a little background would be in order to help you understand the controversy.
     Agent Orange is one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. It was a mixture of equal parts of the aforementioned two herbicides, 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D. It was used to eliminate forest cover for North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops, as well as crops that might be used to feed them. In 1969, it became widely known that the 2,4,5-T component of Agent Orange was contaminated with dioxin, a toxic chemical found to cause adverse health effects and birth outcomes in laboratory studies.  In April 1970, the US government restricted use of 2,4,5-T, because of the contaminant and therefore Agent Orange, in both Vietnam and the US. It was not the 2,4-D or the 2,4,5-T but rather the contaminant dioxin that was the problem. So if you study the facts, the environmentalists who call 2,4-D Agent Orange are furthering an “urban myth,” because the deadly part of Agent Orange has been banned for years and in 1985 they also banned 2,4, 5-T, the contaminated component of Agent Orange that made it dangerous. Calling this tool Agent Orange just is not correct! It is a scare tactic.
     After many years of research and scrutiny the EPA examined the potential harm to humans, the environment, wildlife, endangered species and others in its studies on Enlist Duo. It found that use of Enlist Duo would be safe for all ages and agricultural workers, as well as animals and the environment. The decision reflects sounds science and an understanding of the risks of pesticides to human health and the environment. The agency evaluated the risks to all age groups, from infants to the elderly, and took into account exposures through food, water, pesticide drift, and as a result of use around homes. The decision meets the rigorous Food Quality Protection Act standard of “reasonable certainty of no harm” to human health. The EPA even made mention that the herbicide is not related to the deadly component of Agent Orange, which is banned, which negates the arguments that the environmentalists use. I like the fact that EPA is using a balanced approach for once!

The preceding information comes from the research and personal observations of the writer which may or may not reflect the views of UNL or UNL Extension. For more further information on these or other topics contact D. A. Lienemann, UNL Extension Educator for Webster County in Red Cloud, (402) 746-3417 or email to: dlienemann2@unl.edu or go to the website at: http://www.webster.unl.edu/home