Isoxaflutole - The Next Herbicide Headache?

October 2021

In the 1990s, agrichemical giant, Bayer, was developing its own herbicide/GM-crop package to compete with Monsanto's hugely successful glyphosate and 'Roundup Ready' GM soya. However, as part of the Bayer-Monsanto merger deal, the company was required to off-load this product. The outcome, approved for the market in 2020, was isoxaflutole-resistant GM soya now produced by its new owner, BASF.

Isoxaflutole is a newcomer in the world of herbicides and is recognised as a probable human carcinogen because it induces liver and thyroid tumours in rodents. This herbicide is potentially toxic to the liver, blood and eyes, and may have negative developmental effects. It's pretty good at drifting, and is persistent and mobile in the environment, possibly accumulating in ground water.

All this may sound like a good reason not to approve isoxaflutole nor the GM crops designed to escalate its use. 

 
How is it possible that we now face the real prospect of routine contamination of our food and environment with three carcinogenic herbicides (glyphosate [1], dicamba [2] and isoxaflutole) all being used on GM commodity crops?

One reason is that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) bases its decisions on flawed and limited data supplied by the registrant.

This regulatory shortcoming isn't only applied to weedkillers and GM crops. The EPA has already been in court over its use of flawed and limited data supplied by the registrant to approve 'sulfoxaflor', a neonicotinoid insecticide which kills bees.

Another reason is that the Agency adopts a behind-closed-doors approach to approving agri-chemicals.

Regulatory secrecy shouldn't be possible when the approval process demands a public consultation period. However, the EPA can get round this inconvenience quite easily. For example, in the case of isoxaflutole, it simply announced that the herbicide's registration was open for the required 30-days for public comment while omitting it from the federal register and not telling anyone except parties with interests in the chemical. That way, the Agency found itself with 54 comments praising isoxaflutole or asking for its wider use, and no responses whatsoever from conservation or health organisations.

Note that the EPA has covered its back by coming up with extremely complicated labelling requirements for isoxaflutole-based herbicides, suggesting that, like dicamba, "there doesn't appear to be any way for an applicator to be 100% legal in their application". That way, any harm caused will be the farmer's fault for not following the rules.

OUR COMMENT

No doubt, isoxaflutole will be the same story of spiralling use for all the same reasons as glyphosate. And, in time, we'll see another spike in cancers, and quite possibly another layer of catastrophic epigenetic effects on future generations [3].

Consumer concern is powerful. Besides your concerns about your own health, there's nothing unreasonable about refusing to buy products you know are risking the health, and even the life, of the farm workers who produce them`. Make sure the supermarkets and Big Food companies know you don't want to eat crops sprayed with dicamba or isoxaflutole any more than you want to eat glyphosate.

Background

[1] ROUNDUP ON TRIAL - May 2019

[2] DICAMBA - WORSE THAN GLYPHOSATE - October 2021

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


SOURCES:

• Matthew Renda, Court shoots down US EPA approval of dicamba pesticide, www.courthousenews.com, 3.06.20, reported by GM Watch 4.06.20d
• Carey Gillam, Pursuing Truth and Transparency in America's Food System, US Right To Know, 9.06.20
• Nathan Donley, Ever Heard of Isoxaflutole? That's About to Change, www.organicconsumers.org, 24.04.20
• Johnathan Hettinger, Public participation for Isoxaflutole: New Use on Herbicide Resistant Soybeans, www.investigatemidwest.org, 3.04.20
• Irvin Jackson, Lawsuit Calls For Ban On Dicamba Spraying In Upcoming Growing Season, AboutLawsuits.com, 27.04.20
• Isoxaflutole, www.sourcewatch.org
  

CC Image by NT Franklin from Pixabay