ALERT: Agent Orange on your Food!

It's official...the EPA has approved 2, 4-D!

From IRT,

While over a quarter million citizens signed the whitehouse.gov petition to stop the approval of Dow Chemical’s new “Enlist Duo” herbicide, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved it today.

“Enlist Duo” is a mixture of glyphosate (the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup) and the even more toxic chemical 2, 4-D, a component of Agent Orange that is said to contain unregulated amounts of the highly toxic compound, dioxin.

In response to the growing superweeds issue resulting from organisms that prove to be resistant to Roundup, this chemical will now be used in conjunction with Dow’s very own “Enlist” genetically engineered corn and soybeans.  Like Roundup ready genetically engineered organisms, these crops are designed to withstand “Enlist Duo” while the weeds are killed by the chemical application.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved Dow’s genetically engineered corn and soybeans last month.  Yet there was hope coupled with significant outcry and complaint by scientists, lawmakers, healthcare professionals and good citizens like you, to stop this final needed step of approval by the EPA for this herbicide.

Unfortunately our collective voices were ignored and Dow’s “Agent Orange Ready Crops” are headed into the food supply and onto the dinner plates of many unsuspecting humans, as well as into the air we breathe.

IRT will be supporting The Center for Food Safety’s Legal initiative to stop this new approval. 

As well, we will keep you informed about further developments and how you can get involved.

What’s more, while we support CFS in their effort to reverse this decision, we at IRT will focus on the very real health and environmental risks associated with this crop and bring you firsthand interviews and research from reliable, non-biased, responsible scientists, and experts in this field.

We already know that exposure to 2,4-D has been linked to cancer, Parkinson’s disease, endocrine disruption, and reproductive problems. It’s already the 7th largest source of dioxins in the U.S. and while dioxins exist in our environment, and 2, 4-D has been used in some countries, by the EPA’s own estimation, approval of “Enlist Duo” will lead to an unprecedented 2 to 7 fold increase in the use of 2, 4-D, thus grossly increasing the presence of dioxin.  Our founder, Jeffrey Smith, currently believes dioxin to be the most harmful aspect of 2, 4-D to both our bodies and our planet.

We will bring you the science behind why this is and support solutions to keep you safe.

Let’s face it we’ve been down this road before…

Even scientists concur that like Roundup, use of “Enlist Duo” will only increase the prevalence of herbicide-resistant weeds -- meaning that to continue killing weeds, Dow will have to engineer crops resistant to even more herbicides, and more toxic chemical cocktails to apply to them. 

The federal government failed YOU.

The US federal government failed the voice of the people in approving the use of this chemical cocktail on Dow’s genetically engineered crops, they ignored OVER A MILLION public comments, letters from scientists and health care professionals, and a letter signed by 60 Members of Congress.

The federal government is clearly listening to the chemical companies and not the scientists, doctors, lawmakers and citizens who know that more chemicals are not prudent on many levels, most significantly for the health and wellbeing of all living creatures and this great planet we call home.

Now more than ever, we need to band together and organize our actions, and we need to keep informed about what is in and on our food, and in the air we breathe. 

We need to get educated about what to avoid and where to find, and support healthy options in the face of an increasingly reckless and irresponsible agricultural system aided by our government’s compliance. 

 

We’re not going to sugar coat it, this time in history is not easy for those like us who care about the health and well-being of ourselves, our loved ones, future generations, the planet and all who live on it, but we can’t call defeat, we can’t give up, we must soldier on.  In this together! 

 

SAFE eating begins with INFORMED eating!