Tribune: Lawmakers Press EPA On Enlist Duo Approval Process
February 18, 2016 Thirty-five members of Congress are questioning EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy about her agency’s review of a controversial Dow Chemical Co. weedkiller that was the subject of a Chicago Tribune investigation last year, reports Chicago Tribune reporter Patricia Callahan.
In a letter sent to McCarthy late last week, Democratic lawmakers from across the country said they were concerned about the health risks posed by Dow’s Enlist Duo herbicide, which combines 2,4-D and glyphosate as a one-two punch to battle weeds that have evolved to become impervious to glyphosate alone. Dow has genetically modified corn and soybeans to make them immune to Enlist Duo so that farmers can spray entire fields with the herbicide, sparing the crops but killing the weeds.
When the EPA approved Enlist Duo in 2014, the agency tossed aside evidence of kidney lesions in lab rats that Dow’s own scientists said were caused by 2,4-D, clearing the way for children to be exposed to levels considered for decades to be unsafe, the Tribune investigation found.
“We were concerned to learn that, during this process, EPA dismissed a key study linking 2,4-D to kidney abnormalities based on one scientist’s analysis, and in doing so, effectively gave the green light for 41 times more of the chemical to enter the America diet than was previously allowed,” the lawmakers wrote.
The EPA is reconsidering its approval of Enlist Duo, but agency officials told the Tribune last December that its scientists solely are determining whether bigger no-spray zones are needed to protect endangered plants near the edges of farm fields. The fact that the agency’s review is focusing only on plants and not people was troubling to the lawmakers, according to Callahan.
Head on over to ChicagoTribune.com if you want to read the full report.
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