Dewey, 2017
Caitlin Dewey, “This miracle weed killer was supposed to save farms. Instead, it’s devastating them.” The Washington Post, 8/29/2017.
SUMMARY:
Washington Post story reports on ongoing damage from dicamba. Important points in the article include the potential for drift- “According to a 2004 assessment, dicamba is 75 to 400 times more dangerous to off-target plants than the common weed killer glyphosate, even at very low doses. It is particularly toxic to soybeans — the very crop it was designed to protect — that haven’t been modified for resistance.” Reports on latest numbers- 3.1 million acres in 16 states. ‘“It’s really hard to get a handle on how widespread the damage is,” said Bob Hartzler, a professor of agronomy at Iowa State University. “But I’ve come to the conclusion that [dicamba] is not manageable.”’ FULL TEXT
Smith, 2016a
Steve Smith, “RE: Citizen’s Petition to Classify Pesticides with the Active Ingredient Dicamba as Restricted Use,” Save Our Crops Coalition Petition to the EPA, May 24, 2016.
SUMMARY:
Non-target plant damage associated with herbicide spray drift and volatilization is a major concern for specialty crop growers and processors. Credible estimates project significant increases in the amount of dicamba that will be applied upon the introduction of dicamba-tolerant crops, and, dicamba, because of its potential to drift and volatilize, has proven to be one of America’s most dangerous herbicides for non-target plant damage. Thus, SOCC respectfully submits the following petition requesting EPA conduct a classification review of products with the active ingredient dicamba to determine whether any or all such products should be classified for restricted use. FULL TEXT
AAPCO, 2005
Association of American Pesticide Control Operators,” 2005 Pesticide Drift Enforcement Survey,” 2005.
SUMMARY:
Reports on the results from 2002 and 2003 farmer surveys, including on pesticide drift damage. FULL TEXT
Center for Food Safety, 2012
Center for Food Safety, “Summary of Center for Food Safety’s Science Comments to EPA on Monsanto’s Request to Register Dicamba Herbicide for Use on Monsanto’s Dicamba-Resistant MON 87708 Soybean,” September 21, 2012.
SUMMARY:
In brief, the introduction of MON 87708 would trigger a huge increase in the use of
dicamba herbicide in American agriculture. This in turn would trigger numerous adverse impacts, including: 1) Rapid evolution of weeds resistant to dicamba and related herbicides; 2) Much increased crop damage from the highly volatile dicamba drifting onto neighbors’ crops; 3) Potential health harms to farmers and the public from greater exposure to dicamba; and 4) Injury to wild plants and animals that depend on them, including threatened and endangered species, from dicamba drift and runoff. FULL TEXT
Smith, 2013
Steve Smith, Comment of the Save Our Crops Coalition, RE: Notice of Receipt of Several Pesticide Petitions Filed for Residues of Pesticide Chemicals in or on Various Commodities; Pesticide Products; Receipt of Applications to Register New Uses, Docket Nos. EPA–HQ–OPP–2012–0841-0001, EPA-HQ-OPP-2012-0215-0002,
Thursday, January 17, 2013.
SUMMARY:
The Save Our Crops Coalition (SOCC) is a grassroots coalition of farm interests
organized for the specific purpose of preventing injury to non-target crops from
exposure to 2,4-D and dicamba. This comment requests the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) evaluate dicamba residue tolerances for dicamba tolerant crops and the tolerances proposed by SOCC concurrently, and withhold registration of all new uses of dicamba until EPA has established residue tolerances for effected crops.
Smith, 2010
Steve Smith, “Deployment of Dicamba-resistant soybeans and what it will mean to canned and frozen food processors and specialty crop growers in the Midwest,” Testimony before Congress, Domestic Policy Subcommittee of Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, September 30, 2010.
SUMMARY:
Steve Smith, the Director of Agriculture at Red Gold, the largest canned tomato processor in the U.S., testifies before Congress on the approval of dicamba-resistant soybeans. FULL TEXT
Smith, 2016b
Steve Smith, “Save Our Crops Coalition Open Letter to Chairman of Monsanto,” August 9, 2016.
SUMMARY:
open letter Steve Smith, Chairman of the Save Our Crops Coalition sent to Hugh Grant, Chairman and CEO of the Monsanto Company about drift damage from dicamba spraying on dicamba-resistant crops. FULL TEXT
Monsanto, 2017a
Robb Fraley for Monsanto, “Dicamba Drift: Monsanto Announces Action Plan,” Monsanto Blog in AgFax, August 8, 2017.
SUMMARY:
Monsanto releases a 3 part plan to address the surge in dicamba drift complaints. FULL TEXT
Bradley, 2017b
Kevin Bradley, August 14, 2017, “Update on Dicamba-related Injury Investigations and Estimates of Injured Soybean Acreage,” Integrated Pest and Crop Management Newsletter, University of Missouri.
SUMMARY:
Updates numbers of dicamba damage nationally- 2,242 complaints and estimated 3.1 million acres damaged. FULL TEXT
Hightower, 2017
Mary Hightower, “Dicamba Drift: Arkansas Researchers Find All Formulations Volatile; 876 Injury Reports,” AgFax, August 10, 2017.
SUMMARY:
The Plant Board reports 876 complaints as of 8/10. An estimated 35% of the state’s 3.5 million acres and 300,000 of the 400,000 acres of cotton are planted in dicamba resistant acreage that would be sprayed with the new herbicide formulations. Weed scientists with the state point out that although lab testing found that the new formulations (Engenia, Xtendimax, and FeXapanTM) were less volatile than older dicamba herbicides (i.e. Banvel and Clarity), researchers have found that under realistic, field growing conditions “differences in volatility between older dicamba products such as Clarity and newer ones including Engenia and Xtendimax are not as evident… Soybeans are so sensitive, very, very low levels of volatility can cause injury.” FULL TEXT