The business of developing and selling prescription drugs is not just big. It's huge. Sales for prescription meds in the world are expected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2018. That equates to 1.3% of the world's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). To put it another way, Big Pharma's sales are bigger than the annual GDP of all but 15 countries on the planet. In the United States alone, seven out of 10 Americans are taking prescription medications.Almost 4 billion prescriptions were written in the U.S. last year. And for the unluckiest of us, those prescriptions cost dearly. Six-figure dearly. Those are the Americans with rare conditions for which Big Pharma develops what are termed "orphan drugs," or drugs meant to treat diseases from which few people suffer.

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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.