EPA accused of failing to regulate use of toxic herbicides despite court order

A late 2021 EPA investigation found the same problems persist even with new directions added to the label, but the agency still allows Monsanto, BASF and other producers to continue using dicamba.

The fillings are a continuation of the 2020 lawsuit, which was brought by the National Family Farm Coalition, Center for Food Safety, Center for Biological Diversity and Pesticide Action Network North America. The groups are asking the court to again order the EPA to rescind approval of the controversial products.

The EPA did not respond to a request for comment.

The herbicides are sprayed over fields and efficiently kill weeds. However, they are also highly volatile and prone to drifting into neighboring fields when they are spread, or can lift off the ground and plants and travel up to a mile.

When that happens, the herbicide can damage or kill neighboring crops and plants that are not engineered to be dicamba-resistant. Most frequently, the substance impairs their ability to grow or flower, and it reduces height and yield of non-dicamba-resistant crops.

Peer-reviewed studies also found dicamba likely doubled the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Canadian farmers and increased rates of liver cancer in highly exposed US farmers.

The agency also documented damage to university research farms, cemeteries, churchyards, state fish and game properties, state natural areas, city parks, state and national wildlife refuges, state parks and other several public spaces.

Faux noted that he started growing some peppers in a wind tunnel that protected the plants from dicamba, and used the same methods as those plants that were unprotected. The protected plants thrived and the unprotected were stunted, he said.