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• Stop USDA's Plan to Let Monsanto Police Itself!

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Alert

Stop Agent Orange Frankencorn!

Don't Let the USDA Approve Dow's 2,4-D-Tolerant Corn!

Monsanto's RoundUp Ready and Bt genetically engineered crops are a failure, responsible for herbicide-resistant super-weeds, insecticide-resistant super-pests and huge increases in the use of toxic pesticides. Monsanto's modified seeds and pesticides and terribly expensive, making the cost of inputs a driving force behind farmer debt-related suicides, rising food prices and hunger around the world. Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, even in the wake of this trail of destruction, is still the most widely used herbicide on the planet.

But rather than moving away from chemical and energy-intensive GMO crops and deadly pesticides, the USDA plans to escalate, letting chemical/biotech companies such as Dow Chemical force on the market a new wave of genetically engineered herbicide-tolerant crops, mutants that can survive
the infamous herbicide 2,4-D, an Agent Orange ingredient with documented health human impacts, from cancer to immunosuppression,
reproductive damage to neurotoxicity.

We have until April 27, 2012, to try to convince the USDA not to approve Dow Chemical's new 2,4-D-tolerant corn.

TAKE ACTION!

Why Agent Orange Corn Is So Dangerous

There is a large body of evidence indicating major health problems resulting from exposure to 2,4-D, from cancer to immunosuppression, reproductive problems to neurotoxicity.

In mammals, 2,4-D disrupts energy production, depleting the body of its primary energy molecule, ATP.

2,4-D was banned in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Quebec and scores of Canadian municipalities after numerous epidemiological studies linked 2,4-D to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma among farmers and members of the general public.

2,4-D causes significant suppression of thyroid hormone levels. Thyroid hormone is known to play a critical role in the development of the brain. Slight thyroid suppression has been shown to adversely affect neurological development in the fetus, resulting in lasting effects on the child's learning and behavior.

Male farm sprayers exposed to 2,4-D had lower sperm counts and more spermatic abnormalities compared to men who were not exposed to this chemical. In Minnesota, higher rates of birth defects have been observed in areas of the state with the highest use of 2,4-D and other herbicides of the same class. This increase in birth defects was most pronounced among infants who were conceived in the spring, the time of greatest herbicide use.

2,4-D also interferes with the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine. In young organisms, exposure to 2,4-D results in delays in brain development and abnormal behavior patterns, including apathy, decreased social interactions, repetitive movements, tremor, and immobility.

This herbicide impairs normal deposition of myelin in the developing brain. The neurotoxic and anti thyroid effects of 2,4-D mean that fetuses, infants, and children are more susceptible to long-term adverse health effects from exposure to this chemical although they may appear normal at birth.

2,4-D is excreted in breast milk, thereby resulting in potentially significant exposures to the nursling. 2,4-D residues have been detected in stomach contents, blood, brains and kidneys of 4-day-old neonates fed by 2,4-D exposed mothers. When maternal exposures stopped, the chemical continued to be excreted in maternal milk for a week. Postnatal exposures to this chemical during the critical period for development of the infant brain are of serious scientific concern.

2,4-D contains dioxin, an environmental pollutant belonging to the "dirty dozen," a group of extremely toxic chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants.

Dioxin is the most toxic compound synthesized by man, yet it is still spewing from U.S. industries. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, dioxin releases increased by 18% from 2009-2010 nationally.

2,4-D is the seventh-largest source of dioxin pollution in the U.S.

But, its manufacturer, Dow Chemical, has no plans to slow its production of 2,4-D. In fact, it is asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to approve new genetically engineered, 2,4-D-resistant crops that would increase 2,4-D's use 50 fold.

The US EPA has finally released their major report on the non-cancer health effects of dioxin, which for the past twenty seven years has been delayed due to interference from Dow and the rest of the chemical industry. The science is clear: dioxin is toxic to human health and development.

Dioxin is a known human carcinogen. Dioxin also causes a wide range of adverse non-cancer effects including reproductive, developmental, immunological, and endocrine effects in both animals and humans. Animal studies show that dioxin exposure is associated with endometriosis, decreased fertility, the inability to carry pregnancies to term, lowered testosterone levels, decreased sperm counts, birth defects, and learning disabilities. In children, dioxin exposure has been associated with IQ deficits, delays in psychomotor and neurodevelopment, and altered behavior including hyperactivity.

Dioxin effects the immune system. Animal studies show decreased immune response and increased susceptibility to infectious disease. In human studies, dioxin was associated with immune system depression and alterations in immune status leading to increased infections.

Dioxin can also disrupt the normal function of hormones—chemical messengers that the body uses for growth and regulation. Dioxin interferes with thyroid levels in infants and adults, alters glucose tolerance, and has been linked to diabetes.

Dioxin-polluting industries need to be banned. The EPA should start by banning 2,4-D, which gets sprayed directly on our food. According to EPA over 90% of human exposure to dioxin occurs through our diet.

Instead, the EPA just rejected the National Resource Defense Council's petition laying out the scientific and legal justification for a ban. Please take action, tell EPA you won't take no for an answer. 2,4-D must be banned!

Sources:

• Sierra Club: 2,4-D Overview
• EPA Paves Pathway for 'Agent Orange' GM Corn
• NRDC Petitions EPA to Ban 2,4-D
• EPA Health Report on Dioxin Released After Twenty Seven Years of Delays
• The Center for Food Safety's Agent Orange Corn Fact Sheet
• National Resources Defense Council: Ban Agent Orange Ingredient from Weed and Feed Products, Use of Toxin 2,4-D in Pesticides Poised to Skyrocket without Action