Pesticide Free Future

PIRG delivers nearly 10,000 comments calling for an end to dicamba herbicides

The Environmental Protection Agency requested public comments on dicamba. We delivered.

Kendall Sultan | TPIN
PIRG delivers nearly 10,000 public comments to the Environmental Protection Agency

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a new “draft risk assessment” of dicamba’s impact on the environment and human health in August. Then the agency put out a call for public comments as it considers what to do about the herbicide.

Dicamba is an herbicide that is notorious for getting picked up by the wind, drifting miles from the intended target – even days after it’s sprayed. When these dangerous chemicals land, they can wipe out crops on neighboring farms and create toxic impacts for surrounding communities.

Dicamba has been linked to several types of cancer, harm to wildlife including pollinators and serious damage to any crops that aren’t engineered to be dicamba-resistant.

We know it’s time for this herbicide to go. So we asked our members in states all across the country to submit comments calling on the agency to end the use of dicamba. In just over four days, nearly 10,000 comments poured in, showing just how deep support is for action on dicamba.

For good measure, we also joined a group of expert organizations, including the Organic Farmers Association, Prairie Rivers Network, Rural Coalition, Audubon Delta and more in submitting a detailed analysis of the risk assessment and recommendation that the agency, at the very least, end the worst uses of dicamba and set stricter guidelines for the remaining uses.

Want to learn more about the issue? Here’s our take on why the EPA should ban destructive dicamba herbicides for healthier farms.

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