In this Tuesday, July 11, 2017, photo, East Arkansas farmer Reed Storey shows the damage to one of his soybean plants in Marvell, Ark. Storey said half of his soybean crop has shown damage from dicamba, an herbicide that has drifted onto unprotected fields and spawned hundreds of complaints from farmers. The complaints prompted Arkansas and Missouri to temporarily ban the herbicide. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo)
Andrew DeMillo
In this Tuesday, July 11, 2017, photo, East Arkansas soybean farmer Reed Storey looks at his field in Marvell, Ark. Storey said half of his soybean crop has shown damage from dicamba, an herbicide that has drifted onto unprotected fields and spawned hundreds of complaints from farmers. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo)
WASHINGTON • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing its directions on how to use the latest versions of the weed killer dicamba, following hundreds of reports about crop damage when traces of it drift away from application sites, an agency spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
Listen now and subscribe: | | | |
"We are reviewing the current use restrictions on the labels for these dicamba formulations in light of the incidents that have been reported this year," EPA spokeswoman Amy Graham said in an email to Reuters.
The EPA approved new formulations of the pesticide, a weed killer sold by Monsanto Co., BASF and DuPont late last year. The authorization was only for two years because older versions were known to drift away from their intended targets and settle onto nearby fields.
Regulators in 16 states are investigating dicamba damage reports covering more than 2.5 million acres of crops, according to a report by University of Missouri Associate Professor Kevin Bradley published on July 25.
Complaints alleging misuse of the herbicide prompts Arkansas to propose an emergency ban.
In this Tuesday, July 11, 2017, photo, East Arkansas farmer Reed Storey shows the damage to one of his soybean plants in Marvell, Ark. Storey said half of his soybean crop has shown damage from dicamba, an herbicide that has drifted onto unprotected fields and spawned hundreds of complaints from farmers. The complaints prompted Arkansas and Missouri to temporarily ban the herbicide. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo)
In this Tuesday, July 11, 2017, photo, East Arkansas soybean farmer Reed Storey looks at his field in Marvell, Ark. Storey said half of his soybean crop has shown damage from dicamba, an herbicide that has drifted onto unprotected fields and spawned hundreds of complaints from farmers. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo)
