08/14/07 No Special Review for 2,4-D

Farm and Ranch August 14, 2007 Following its recent decision to reregister 2,4-D the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has now announced its Decision Not to Initiate a Special Review of the popular herbicide. Jack Dutra, the executive director of the Industry Task Force II on 2,4-D, explains why the EPA made that determination. Dutra: "Well, essentially what their findings were, in looking at all the data there is no evidence or correlation between 2,4-D and any human carcinogenic effects. In otherwords, they haven't labeled it as a non-carcinogen, but it does not cause carcinogenic effects in humans." This comes after 21 years of research and reregistration evaluation. Dutra explains what the decision means for agriculture. Dutra: "For the Ag industry, what that means is that the product, which is probably the most widely used in the world for weed control or with weed control products, that they can put out the product as labeled and feel safe that there are no health problems that will result to them using 2,4-D or herbicidal mixes." Dutra says 2,4-D is an essential herbicide for U.S. growers of a variety of important crops including, wheat, corn, potatoes and stone fruits. He says in the reregistration not a single use of the product was lost. An economic evaluation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture concluded that the loss of 2,4-D would cost the U.S. economy $1.7 billion annually in higher food production and weed control expenses. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.