Enlist Duo | Farm and environmental groups in the United States want the Environmental Protection Agency to revoke its approval
(Reuters) — A coalition of U.S. farm and environmental groups has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn regulatory approval granted for an herbicide developed by Dow AgroSciences.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California, argues that the Environmental Protection Agency did not adequately analyze the impact of one of the new herbicide’s active ingredients, 2,4-D, before granting approval Oct. 15 to Dow’s Enlist Duo herbicide.
The groups are asking the court to set aside the EPA’s approval.
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Widespread use of 2,4-D carries risks to human health, animals and the environment, the groups allege. They claim the EPA’s approval violated the Endangered Species Act and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.
“They did not do an adequate job,” said Andrew Kimbrell, an attorney with the Center for Food Safety, which is a plaintiff in the case.
“This was a rubber stamp. They acted illegally in approving this.”
The National Resource Defense Council filed a similar action Oct. 16 against the EPA to block Enlist Duo, saying the new weed killer will damage monarch butterfly populations and pose risks to humans.
The herbicide developed by Dow AgroSciences is to be used with new genetically modified corn and soybean crops developed by Dow to tolerate treatments of the herbicide.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the Enlist crops last month. When used in combination with the new herbicide, the Dow products should help farmers combat severe weed problems hurting U.S. crop production, according to Dow and government officials.
Millions of acres of U.S. farmland have been infested with weeds resistant to glyphosate-based Roundup, which was developed by Monsanto and used widely by canola, cotton, corn and soybean farmers. Critics say use of Enlist will make weed problems worse.
However, the EPA said it had thoroughly evaluated the risks and was requiring many restrictions on the herbicide’s use.
Dow AgroSciences said it is “confident that EPA thoroughly reviewed” Enlist Duo and that the EPA will prevail in court.
The EPA has been inundated with calls for the agency to deny approval of Enlist Duo, including warnings from a group of physicians and scientists who said 2,4-D can be linked to health problems that include suppressed immune function and greater risk of Parkinson’s disease.
The lawsuit was filed by the Center for Food Safety and Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm, on behalf of Beyond Pesticides, Center for Biological Diversity, the Environmental Working Group, the National Family Farm Coalition and Pesticide Action Network North America.
EPA initially approved Enlist Duo only for Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. It is considering approving it for use in 10 more states.
