From Monsanto comes dicamba, an even more potent herbicide than glyphosate. The partnership between Monsanto and Bayer is becoming increasingly close to create the largest multinational of GMOs, pesticides and herbicides in the world and to bring more and more power into the hands of biotech agriculture and the agrochemical sector.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Da Monsanto the dicamba, an even more potent herbicide than glyphosate. The partnership between Monsanto e Bayer to create the largest multinational of GMOs, pesticides and herbicides in the world and to bring more and more power into the hands of biotech agriculture and the agrochemical sector.
The merger between Bayer and Monsanto had already been announced a few months ago. Given that Monsanto was unable to conquer Europe with the spread of GMO seeds, he decided to join the German company Bayer to strengthen its presence in the Old Continent.
The European Union is proving opposed to both the spread of GMOs and the excessive use of glyphosate, the substance at the base of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide that was classified last year as probably carcinogenic to humans by Iarc.
Given that glyphosate is now in the crosshairs and that several countries around the world are considering banning it, Monsanto has already thought about the spread of a new alternative herbicide, the dicamba.
It is a substance that is already at the center of several doubts regarding health, especially when it is included in the cocktail of ingredients typical of agrochemicals.
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For the risks of dicamba in fact there is already talk of damage to the nervous system, the development of the fetus, liver and kidneys, at least on an animal model, and toxicity to fish and birds.
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The fear is that glyphosate could be replaced or complemented by a herbicide of equal or worse toxicity. And obviously Monsanto is already preparing GM seeds resistant to dicamba so that this herbicide can destroy the weeds in the fields but not the cultivated plants.
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We already talked to you about dicamba last July, describing it as an even more potent herbicide than glyphosate to eliminate weeds and talking about its correlation with the creation of new GM seeds.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has already given its approval for the use of dicamba in the United States on GM crops. As indicated by the EPA at the beginning of November 2016, dicamba will be used in crops di GMO cotton and GM soy for weed control.
Dicamba is a selective herbicide that in the USA is already authorized for use in agriculture on maize, wheat and other crops, as well as for non-agricultural uses at the level of weed control in residential areas and, for example, in fields. golf.
The EPA has now approved Monsanto's request for dicamba to be used on GM crops of soybeans and cotton. According to the EPA, dicamba is safe for everyone if you follow the rules of use of the product shown on the label. But will it really be like this?
In fact, many doubts remain regarding the effects on humans, the environment and animals of the long-term use of this herbicide, remembering that in the United States a new substance or a new product is always considered safe as long as it does not cause demonstrable damage in court by the injured party.
The only genetically modified crop in Europe is GM corn while the authorization for dicamba in the US has now been requested only for soybeans and cotton resistant to this substance. The dicamba problem therefore for the moment it does not touch Europe but in the meantime don't let your guard down on glyphosate because all citizens have the right to sustainable agriculture and safe food.
Read the EPA opinion on dicamba here.
Marta Albè
