With the increased use of glyphosate on GMO crops, the EPA’s Office of Inspector General said recently it will begin a superweeds GMO investigation and analyze how farm workers are affected by the toxic chemicals used to combat them.
Glyphosate on GMO crops is creating more superweeds. Click on pic for original photo.
In recent years glyphosate use has exploded. A study released in February found that glyphosate use by U.S. farmers rose from 12.5 million pounds in 1995 to 250 million pounds in 2014 – a 20-fold increase.
Given the fact that last year glyphosate was deemed a “probable human carcinogen” by the World Health Organization, the increased use of glyphosate on our crops isn’t exactly reassuring — and the popularity of the chemical doesn’t seem to be diminishing.
To fight the superweeds created by overuse of one herbicide, chemical companies’ solution is to use even more herbicides, combining mixtures of a number of different chemicals. Dow has introduced Enlist Duo a combination of glyphosate and an old herbicide called 2,4-D. The EPA recently retracted its approval for the use of Enlist Duo after the manufacturer, Dow AgroSciences, had withheld data showing it’s potentially more toxic than disclosed.
With the GMO controversy already reaching a fever pitch, the EPA’s superweed GMO investigation will only add add more concern to this increasingly complex problem.
To read the entire article, go to: http://www.ewg.org/agmag/2016/03/epa-watchdog-investigate-monsanto-gmos-and-superweeds
Featured pic found here:http://bit.ly/1UtUseA
