The most perverse myth of all is that dicamba is needed to prevent the development of weeds resistant to other herbicides – perverse because it obscures the real story, which is that excessive reliance on dicamba is already driving evolution of dicamba-resistant weeds in multiple states. This development is drawing comparisons to the explosive emergence of glyphosate-resistant weeds with the widespread planting of Roundup Ready crops. The only real solution to weed resistance is less reliance on herbicides overall.
In early February, something rather extraordinary happened in the world of
American farming. For the second time, a federal court banned the hazardous
herbicide dicamba, which has been wreaking havoc on farmers, rural
communities and the natural world for seven long years. The Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) re-approved dicamba after the first court action.
Will it do so once again?
What about dicamba makes it so hazardous that courts have overruled EPA
twice? It’s an incredibly volatile, drift-prone weed-killer, and extremely
potent as well: just one teaspoon over an acre stunts tomato plants. It
vaporizes while being sprayed, but also evaporates from plant surfaces and
soil days after a spraying operation. Once the vapor is airborne, it forms
clouds that drift long distances to kill or injure virtually any flowering
plant in its path.
And that’s precisely what happened following Monsanto’s 2016 introduction of
soybeans and cotton genetically engineered (GE) to withstand dicamba’s
killing effects. Widespread planting of these new GE crops triggered a
dramatic upsurge in use during late spring and summer, when heat enhances
dicamba’s volatility.
Dicamba has drifted rampantly from these GE fields, damaging millions of
acres of non-dicamba-resistant soybeans. Wave after wave of dicamba vapor
drift killed fruit trees, or left them with small, unsaleable fruit.
Vegetable farms and gardens were devastated. Trees in natural areas
suffered. And beekeepers reported steep drops in honey production where
dicamba had devasted the flowering plants their bees require for nectar and
pollen.
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