New GMO ‘Agent Orange’ Corn Coming to the Market
Wake up, wake up. There’s a new strain of corn coming to the United States. Dubbed ‘Agent Orange’ corn and created by Dow Chemical Company, this GE-corn has been made to be resistant to the chemical 2-4-D, a major chemical component of Agent Orange, the defoliant that was widely used in the Vietnam War and known to cause cancer and many other health problems.
Why the new GE-corn strain? Because the weeds growing in the current farm fields being sprayed with the herbicide Roundup (Glyphosate) are now no longer dying off. Dubbed ‘superweeds‘, these weeds are causing enormous problems for farmers.
The industry (Monsanto, Dow Chemical DuPont, Syngenta, and Bayer) has responded to this problem by deciding that an even more lethal herbicide should be sprayed on America’s crop fields- 2-4-D – to control the weeds. But the problem is it will kill the crops unless the crops can be made resistant to this herbicide. Voila – Agent Orange GMO-Corn to the rescue.
So what’s the big deal you might say? 2-4-D is currently being used in the US and is the third most commonly used herbicide in the country. But so far, it is only being used on lawns, golf courses, and the like. It is not used on food. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is supposed the be the government body that determines that safety of these types of products and should be relying on independent sources for data. However, it is often the same companies who want to get their product approved by the EPA that are providing the research data proving its safety for the public. Hmmm, something seems wrong with this picture. And in the case of 2-4-D, the EPA is very close to giving is seal of approval. Take a few minutes to read these two articles (The Natural Society’s EPA’s Scandalous Policies and Business Weeks EPA Paves Way for ‘Agent Orange’ GM Corn).
With GMO corn being grown in 86% of America’s corn fields, you should be concerned for this next level of seed that’s going to likely be approved by the EPA and USDA for release into the market. There are many organizations fighting against this happening. Food Democracy Now and Organic Consumers Association are two.
Take another moment to quickly sign this petition here to send a message to the USDA to ban Agent Orange corn from entering the US market!
(Note: While GMO crops are not being grown commercially here in New Zealand, GMO foods are allowed into the country. This was the only article I could find relating to 2-4-D / Agent Orange food coming into the country)