The food industry is embroiled in a controversy over what critics call "Agent Orange corn." The genetically-modified vegetable is protected from a herbicide that kills so-called super-weeds, but is linked to the notorious "Agent Orange" used in Vietnam.
Many farmers are thrilled with the corn. But many critics think it will lead to more use of toxic chemicals. The average farmer now spends $25 per acre to kill weeds, and the weeds now are becoming super weeds. Most of the herbicides used on the are no longer working to kill them. Which means more chemicals and more toxins mixed in with our produce. Now think if you have 1,500 acres, the cost is skyrocketing for the farmers, which in turn is rolled over to the public when we purchase the produce. Thus now making produce not only more expensive, but full of more harmful chemicals.
Delaware was the first place these 'super weeds' popped up, in 1998. Since then -- an epidemic, as the weeds spread across the country, confounding farmers and costing them millions as they search for new weapons.
Just how tough are the weeds to kill? So tough that a leading weapon in the fight against them is an herbicide made by Dow AgroSciences (part of the Dow Chemical Company) called 2,4-D, one of the components in Agent Orange, which was used by the U.S. military in Vietnam and has been notorious for links to cancer and birth defects.
Dow says the herbicide is perfectly safe, citing numerous government approvals.But what has ecologists and food safety advocates worried is any idea that greater amounts of 2,4-D could be used on American crops due to a new innovation by Dow: corn that's resistant to 2,4-D.
Right now, 2,4-D can only be used on crops very early or late in the growing season, or it kills the crops along with the weeds. If it kills the crops during their growing time, I wonder what they are doing to those that consume them?
But, Dow has developed a genetically modified corn called "Enlist," which is resistant to 2,4-D. That way, the herbicide could be used all season long. Those concerned about food safety are asking: Are we going too far to stem the weeds?
Gary Hirshberg, co-founder of a group called "Just Label It." " ... What happens when you're exposed to more than one, two or three, let alone thousands of chemicals?" Hirshberg has built a $400 million organic dairy business without using herbicides at all. He says he's not against genetically modified food, but wants it to be labeled as such.
Agent Orange was a defoliant used to decimate the Southeast Asian jungles so the enemy couldn't hide. Because of 2,4-D's links to Agent Orange, some opponents have dubbed the genetically modified corn "Agent Orange corn."
Still, the group Vietnam Veterans of America is stirring the pot. Last month, it wrote President Obama, urging him to look into how increased use of 2,4-D might affect people.
So far, federal regulators agree: In April 2012, the EPA rejected environmentalists' petition to pull 2,4-D from the market. And, federal approval of Enlist corn is pending.
This brings up the concern of why it is so important that we as a society start learning to “fend” for ourselves. We need to learn to be more self sufficient with our food needs. Don’t you want to know what you are preparing to place on your table for your family to ingest?
