The toxic weed killer dicamba is still drifting away from the farms where it's sprayed, threatening other crops and our communities. It's time for the EPA to ban this chemical unless and until it can be proven safe. TAKE ACTION:
[link removed]
Friend,
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set new rules in 2020 to make sure the toxic herbicide dicamba would stay where it was sprayed instead of drifting through our farms and communities -- but it didn't work.[1]
The reports are in: Dicamba wreaked nearly as much havoc in the 2021 growing season as it did the prior year.[2] Nothing has stopped this weed killer from moving far from the fields where it's applied as it drifts for up to 72 hours after being sprayed.[3]
The only way to keep our food and our families safe from this drifting chemical is to ban it, unless and until it is proven safe.
The EPA doesn't have dicamba under control, so we're calling on the agency to ban it. Will you send a message today?
[link removed]
Dicamba has left a trail of destruction behind it ever since it was first approved. Instead of sticking to the fields where it is applied, it can remain in the air for days after it's sprayed. The chemical is designed to damage or destroy everything in its path except for plants that have been specially genetically modified to be resistant to its chemicals.[4]
If you buy the special seeds that allow you to grow resistant plants, you'll be fine -- but nearby farms without the modified plants, local lawns and gardens, and natural fields and forests have no protection. Even in wildlife refuges and conservation areas, you can see symptoms of dicamba's caustic touch.[5]
This toxic chemical doesn't belong anywhere near our food. Take action to urge the EPA to ban dicamba unless and until it is proven totally safe.
[link removed]
The damage to farms and communities is just one of the concerns. Because this pesticide travels, it's getting into the air we breathe, and even the food we eat. The Environmental Protection Agency's human health assessment shows that 1- and 2-year-old infants are the group most heavily exposed to dicamba on their food.[6] The risks of contact with dicamba are not fully understood, but one study links contact with the chemical to the risk of certain types of cancer.[7]
We need to break the cycle of using more and stronger chemicals to prop up our farming system. As farmers keep using pesticides, weeds become resistant to the chemicals over time, which means companies like Monsanto and Bayer need to develop ever-stronger weed killers.[8] But we don't want toxic chemicals in our communities or on our food -- and we can take action to stop them.
Send your message to the EPA today to ban this dangerous, drifting pesticide.
[link removed]
Thank you,
Faye Park
President
1. Britt E. Erickson, "Dicamba drift continued unabated in 2021," Chemical and Engineering News, December 22. 2021.
[link removed]
2. Britt E. Erickson, "Dicamba drift continued unabated in 2021," Chemical and Engineering News, December 22. 2021.
[link removed]
3. Caitlin Dewey, "This Miracle Weed Killer Was Supposed to Save Farms. Instead, It's Devastating Them," The Washington Post, August 29, 2017.
[link removed]
4. Johnathan Hettinger, "Dicamba has killed tens of millions of trees across the Midwest and South," The Counter, June 22, 2020.
[link removed]
5. Johnathan Hettinger, "Dicamba has killed tens of millions of trees across the Midwest and South," The Counter, June 22, 2020.
[link removed]
6. "Dicamba and Dicamba BAPMA Salt: Human-Health Risk Assessment for Proposed Section 3 New Uses on Dicamba-tolerant Cotton and Soybean," U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, March 29, 2016.
[link removed]
7. Johnathan Hettinger, "Dicamba has killed tens of millions of trees across the Midwest and South," The Counter, June 22, 2020.
[link removed]
8. Caitlin Dewey, "This miracle weed killer was supposed to save farms. Instead, it's devastating them," The Washington Post, August 29, 2017.
[link removed]
-----------------------------------------------------------
Donate Today: [link removed]
Join us on Facebook: [link removed]
Follow us on Twitter: [link removed]
U.S. PIRG
Main Office: 1543 Wazee St., Suite 460, Denver, CO 80202, (303) 801-0582
Federal Advocacy Office: 600 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, 4th Fl., Washington, DC 20003, (202) 546-9707
Member Questions or Requests: 1-800-838-6554.
If you want us to stop sending you email then follow this link:
[link removed]
