Corrupt Environmental Protection Agency: 'Cooked the books' to OK Dow's dangerous weed killer

Mary Ellen Kustin
Environmental Working Group
Sun, 06 Dec 2015 22:09 UTC

Last year EWG found serious flaws behind the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to let Dow Chemical Co. sell a new weed poison combining 2,4-D and glyphosate for use on genetically engineered crops, or GMOs.

Today (Dec. 3), an investigation by the Chicago Tribune reveals that EPA intentionally fudged the numbers to downplay the risks of the chemical cocktail Dow is marketing as "Enlist Duo." In making its calculations, EPA also ignored the law requiring an extra safety factor to protect children's health.

After an investigation lasting more than a year, the Tribune's Patricia Callahan reported:

EPA now says it is safe to allow 41 times more 2,4-D into the American diet [than previously allowed for decades]. To reach that conclusion . . . the agency's scientists changed their analysis of a pivotal rat study by Dow, tossing aside signs of kidney trouble that Dow researchers said were caused by 2,4-D.

That's right: Even though Dow's own study found that higher doses of 2,4-D are hazardous, EPA scientists decided it's OK to expose Americans to 41 times more of the poison than the company's research said is safe.

At first, EPA and Dow agreed with EWG that the safe daily dose was 7 milligrams per kilogram of body weight - a number based on studies to determine the level at which rats exposed to 2,4-D showed no adverse effects. But then, Callahan reported, EPA abruptly ratcheted up the number at the heart of its calculations to 21 mg/kg.

What's worse, the agency refused to apply an additional safety factor in their calculations required by law to protect children's health. EWG's earlier investigation found that applying the children's safety factor would result in an allowable level of 2,4-D of just 0.007 mg.kg a day.

The good news is that now because EPA recently retracted its approval of Enlist Duo, the agency has a second chance to get the science right.

The burden is on EPA to show whether the agency is protecting people and the environment or Dow's ability to sell more weed killers for GMOs.

Comment: DOW Chemical is evil...

• Meet the new Monsanto: Dow Chemical... and their new 'Agent Orange' crops

2,4-D is far more toxic than Roundup. The chemical has been linked to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, lowered sperm counts, liver disease, and Parkinson's disease. Studies have also demonstrated the chemical's adverse effects on hormonal, reproductive, neurological, and immune systems.

2,4-D is also the seventh largest source of dioxins in our environment. Dioxins are highly toxic chemical byproducts that can bioaccumulate, which means they can build up in your system, and our environment, over time. If Dow Chemical's 2,4-D-tolerant corn and soy crops are approved by the USDA, hundreds of millions more pounds of this toxic chemical will be used on crops, with ever-increasing residues on our food.

• USDA moves to approve "Agent Orange" GMO seeds

Industry proponents point out that Agent Orange's other ingredient, a chemical known as 2,4,5-T, was contaminated with dioxin and made the herbicide dangerous to human health. Meanwhile, 2,4-D has continued to be used in the United States and across the world.

Pesticide critics, however, point to studies that have linked 2,4-D to health problems such as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer.

"Any increase in the use of 2,4-D with Enlist corn and soybeans will hit rural communities especially hard, as numerous medical studies have linked 2,4-D and related herbicides to increased rates of cancer and Parkinson's disease as well as low sperm counts in farmers and to birth anomalies in their children," said Andrew Kimbrell, director of the Center for Food Safety.

Denmark, Sweden, Norway and parts of Canada have banned 2,4-D in light of such research, but the EPA considers the chemical to be relatively safe. In 2012, the EPA denied a petition from environmental groups to cancel the chemical's legal registration.