EPA allows farmers to continue using Bayer's controversial herbicide
EPA allows farmers to continue using Bayer's controversial herbicide
The Environmental Protection Agency will continue to allow farmers to spray the crops with a controversial herbicide, while the restrictions are being adjusted, the agency said.
The EPA extended for two years its approval of XtendiMax, a version of the Dicamba herbicide made by
BAYRY 0.71%
AG, which some farmers and researchers have blamed for damaging millions of acres of crops in the past two years.
The decision is a victory for Bayer, which also sells genetically modified soy and cotton seeds to survive the chemical. Bayer acquired this year the giant of pesticides and seeds of EE. UU Monsanto, which in 2018 sold 50 million acres of dicamba-tolerant soy and cotton seeds to farmers while teaching them to spray the herbicide and avoid damaging other crops.
"The EPA understands that the dicamba is a valuable pest control tool for US farmers," said Acting Administrator of the EPA, Andrew Wheeler.
For Bayer, EPA approval will preserve an estimated $ 159 million in dicamba profits in 2019, according to Bernstein analysts. The EPA will require new buffer zones and limit the hours that farmers can apply the spray, in an effort to prevent it from being diverted.
Monsanto began marketing XtendiMax after the initial approval of the EPA in late 2016. The company launched it as a way to stop weeds resistant to glyphosate, the herbicide that Monsanto markets as Roundup. Dicamba, the main ingredient of XtendiMax, has historically been prone to drift.
Monsanto said that its new version of dicamba was much less prone to drift. But some farmers and weed scientists blamed dicamba for hundreds of damaged fields. Monsanto officials attributed the vast majority of damaged fields to farmers who fumigated on windy days and other errors.
Researchers at the University of Missouri in July estimated that 1.1 million acres of soybeans were affected this year, including 500,000 acres in Illinois, the main soybean producing state.
Write to Jacob Bunge in jacob.bunge@wsj.com
It appeared in the print edition of November 1, 2018 as "EPA allows the use of the Bayer herbicide".
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',
'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');
fbq('init', '369524843414444');
fbq('track', 'PageView');
.
SOURCE LINK ERESVIRAL.COM https://www.beviral.online
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario