2,4-D on the menu too

October 2021

If you've just been reading about the two latest GM-crop-linked, cancer-causing herbicides to add to the glyphosate formulations already in use globally [1,2,3,4], don't relax, here's another one to worry about.

Last year, China approved Corteva's* 'Enlist' GM soya for importation. This secured a place for Enlist crops, plus the herbicide 2,4-D they're designed to be sprayed with, in US fields. It was described by GM seed suppliers, MS Technologies, as "great news for US soybean growers".

*Corteva Agriscience is a division of DowDupont

A former research professor who now works as a consultant for environmental groups said "2,4-D could by-pass glyphosate as the most widely used pesticide within a couple of years".

2,4-D and its sister chemical, 2,4,5-T, were two of several substances developed by Britain and America as herbicidal weapons during World War II. These two were formulated for use in equal quantities and were later packed in colour-coded containers to become known as 'Agent Orange'.

Agent Orange was first used by the British against a communist pro-independence guerrilla uprising in its (then) colony of Malaya in the 1950s. The British pioneered the strategy of using herbicides to clear communication channels through the jungle. When it became clear that cutting it back by hand was actually more effective, they justified the huge stock of expensive chemicals they'd bought by using it as part of another pioneering strategy: starving the guerrillas into oblivion by creating artificial food shortages in the locality by, for example, destroying farmland with herbicides, killing livestock, and enforcing food rationing on civilians,

Note. This strategy doesn't seem to have been a resounding success: the war continued for another three years after Malaya had been granted independence in 1957, and was followed by a renewed insurgency against the Malaysian government in 1967 which went on for a further 22 years.

America was quick to adopt the same Agent Orange strategy in Vietnam in the 1960s. Public mention of the tactic always emphasised jungle defoliation to deprive the guerrillas of concealment. In reality, the more important purpose was crop destruction to deprive the guerrillas of food and to force the peasant farmers, blamed for feeding the enemy, to flee to the cities. It was later discovered that, in fact, nearly all of the food they'd been destroying was being grown to feed the local civilian populations: the outcome was widespread famine, malnourishment and starvation.

Note. When charged with violating the 1925 Geneva Protocol regulating the use of chemical weapons, America got away with arguing that since a weapon is defined as something used to destroy living beings, Agent Orange, which is toxic to plants, didn't qualify as a chemical weapon.

Curiously, starving people to death doesn't qualify as destroying living beings.

The British, who would also have been found guilty, were quick to agree that the wording of the Protocol was "inadequate" to cover herbicides.

Since its first incarnation as a final solution for disruptive sectors of humanity, 2,4-D has been used for decades in restricted circumstances (and at a fraction of the concentration inflicted on Vietnam) as an agricultural weed-killer.

With this long history of use, you would think the safety of 2,4-D wouldn't be in doubt. There shouldn't be a problem with its latest incarnation as a companion chemical to GM monocultures, even with the inevitable huge increase in usage and exposure. However, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council (an environmental advocacy group) has pointed out that there have, in fact, been "difficulties collecting data".

In the 1950s, the British dismissed concerns about its use of herbicides in Malaya as "communist propaganda" and claimed the chemicals deployed were "harmless to human and animal life". However, at the time no toxicity or long-term environmental impact data had actually been collected for Agent Orange. Despite the tens of thousands of Malayans sickened by exposure to the herbicides, the British government successfully hushed up the numbers to protect its own world reputation.

On the other hand, the horrific consequences of Agent Orange in Vietnam have been well documented. The 'data collection' problem here is that, whether or not the 2,4-D component of the defoliant caused any ill-health was totally eclipsed by the accidental presence of dioxin, a highly toxic by-product arising from the 2,4,5-T manufacturing process.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies 2,4-D as a 'possible' human carcinogen, and studies have linked it to endocrine disruption. Moreover, synergistic interactions with other environmental chemicals known to cause cancer and birth-defects can't be ruled out: this herbicide may have had a role in making the horrific Agent Orange situation worse.

The GM-crop/2,4-D package will be in competition with BASF's dicamba-tolerant GM crops. Since 2,4-D, like dicamba, is volatile [1], it will end up lots of places it shouldn't be. Also, like dicamba, the most problematic weeds such as Palmer amaranth are already evolving tolerance and will need increased spraying. This sounds like a double-whammy for the neighbours of GM-crop growers.

The competition of two such similar herbicides will, of course, suit manufacturers very well. The 'non-using' farmers won't be able to tell which chemical has ruined their crop or which company to sue.

OUR COMMENT

Dicamba and 2,4-D share chemical features which could lead to interactions such as increased toxicity and harmful epigenetic effects, greater carcinogenicity, and the promotion of weed tolerance. Between them, they could damage both GM and non-GM crops in the area. Not such 'great news' for US growers of soybeans or anyone else.

Corteva's 'Enlist Duo' herbicide, a premix of 2,4-D and glyphosate, has also been approved. The suggestion of possible synergistic effects between the two weedkillers was dismissed as 'speculative'. What combined catastrophic epigenetic effects such concoctions might have on consumers have not been addressed [5].

If the prospect of your food being seasoned with an ingredient of Agent Orange seems distasteful, tell your representative in government NOW (you can contact them through www.writetothem.com)

Background

[1] DICAMBA - WORSE THAN GLYPHOSATE - October, 2021

[2] ISOXAFLUTOLE - THE NEXT HERBICIDE HEADACHE? - October, 2021

[3] ROUNDUP ON TRIAL - May 2019

[4] DOES GLYPHOSATE CAUSE BREAST CANCER? - December 2019

[5] EPIGENETIC MAYHEM COURTESY OF GLYPHOSATE ? - September 2021

 

SOURCES:

• Johnathan Hettinger, Volatile pesticide to be sprayed on soybeans and cotton this season, investigatemidwest.org, 26.03.19
• Agent Orange, Wikipedia
• Vietnamese people, Wikipedia
• Malayan Emergency, Wikipedia
• Andrew Garrity Toxics Blog, www.toxicremnantsofwar.info, 12.11.14
• Adam Allington, With Dicamba Cancelled, Legal Focus Now Shifts to Corteva's Enlist, Bloomberg, 26.06.20  Emily Unglesbee, Enlist Duo Ruling, DTN Progressive Farmer, 22.07.20

Image: A military helicopter spraying Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. US Army, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons