A court fight over use of a new Dow Chemical herbicide on genetically engineered U.S. corn and soybean crops is growing to encompass 15 Midwestern states after the company recently won federal approval for more widespread application.
Conservationists, food safety and public-health advocates want to block the use of Enlist Duo until the court can consider its impact on human health, said Paul Achitoff, a public interest lawyer for Earthjustice, representing the plaintiffs.
The coalition’s original lawsuit filed in October in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals challenged a decision by the Environmental Protection Agency to allow Enlist Duo to be used in six states. A motion filed Monday seeks to add nine states where the EPA approved the herbicide for use on April 1.
Achitoff said the coalition expects a ruling any day on its motion for an emergency stay on the use of the herbicide until the lawsuit is decided.
Enlist Duo was designed to be a weed killer on fields planted with special soybean and corn seeds genetically engineered by Dow to be resistant to the herbicide.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: UPDATE 1-U.S. court fight over herbicide widens to 15 states
