Exclusive: Dow seeking deregulation of GE corn resistant to 2,4-D, a major component of Agent Orange

Monday, December 26, 2011 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) Tags: Dow AgroScience, deregulation, 2-4-D

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(NaturalNews) This is an exclusive breaking news story from NaturalNews, please cite this article as the source. It was received as a tip from a concerned health advocate who found it in the federal register, then forwarded it to an industry advocacy group which then forwarded it to us: Dow AgroScience, LLC, is petitioning the U.S. government to deregulate a genetically engineered variety of corn that is resistant to 2,4-D, an extremely toxic pesticide that was 50% of the recipe to making Agent Orange (used in the Vietnam War as a weapon of mass destruction).

This is all admitted right out in the open in the federal register text:
http://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2011...

"We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has received a petition from Dow AgroScience LLC seeking a determination of nonregulated status of corn designated as DAS-40278-9, which has been genetically engineered for increased resistance to broadleaf herbicides in the phenoxy auxin group (such as the herbicide 2,4-D) and resistance to grass herbicides in the aryloxyphenoxypropionate acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase inhibitor group (such as quizalofop herbicides)."

The chemical pesticide group 2,4-D can cause acute toxicity and was a major component (roughly 50%) of Agent Orange, says Cornell University:
http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxne...

Rats fed 2,4-D produced "fetuses with abdominal cavity bleeding and increased mortality," says the Cornell link above, which also states that 2,4-D may cause infertility, birth defects, organ toxicity and neurological effects.

Previously used as a weapon in the Vietnam War, 2,4-D may now be dropped en masse on U.S. crop fields

What's most astonishing about this petition request is that if it is approved, the U.S. would then become an "agricultural war zone" where genetically engineered corn is "carpet bombed" with 2,4-D chemicals. Being resistant to such chemicals, the GE corn may then uptake those chemicals into its own structures and grain kernels, thereby creating corn laced with 2,4-D that would be unleashed when you eat your corn-based breakfast cereals or corn tortillas.

Corn is in practically everything you buy at the grocery store, one way or another. Watch the document King Corn to learn more: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1112115/

Corn is also one of the main feed sources for factory farmed cows, which are especially efficient at concentrating toxins into their fat tissues, to be unleashed when digested by humans.

If this petition is approved by the federal government -- which has long conspired with GMO companies such as Dow, Dupont and Monsanto -- it would result in the unleashing of tens of millions of gallons of toxic pesticide chemicals annually onto America's agricultural landscape (not to mention runoff into rivers, streams, lakes and oceans).

Urgent Action Item: Comment on this Dow petition

The U.S. government claims to be accepting public comments on this petition request. We have no way of knowing whether all such comments are merely chucked into the "round file" or whether they are actually considered, but if you want to submit comments about this petition, YOU CAN'T do it online anyway!

The government's online comment submit system doesn't recognize this document -- at least it didn't at the time this story went to press. Try the following link yourself to see if it works:
http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;...

So your only remaining option is to submit comments by mail:
• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to Docket No. APHIS-2010-0103, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238.

From the Federal Register website:
Supporting documents and any comments we receive on this docket may be viewed at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=... or in our reading room, which is located in room 1141 of the USDA South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC. Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. To be sure someone is there to help you, please call (202) 690-2817 before coming.

Share this NaturalNews story! Let people know that America's corn fields are about to be treated with the same chemical weapons our nation once dropped on Vietnam.

What else you can do

Get involved with the Cornucopia Institute. They are working every day to fight exactly this kind of thing (and to protect America's farmers). Join their email list and please consider making a year-end donation to them, as they're doing fantastic work:
www.Cornucopia.org

Subscribe to their free email newsletter (highly recommended) at:
http://www.cornucopia.org/subsrcribe-to-the-...

Also, check out Jeffrey Smith and the Institute for Responsible Technology, which is fighting against genetically engineered foods and crops:
www.ResponsibleTechnology.org

Additional reference:
Agent Orange was made from roughly a 50/50 mixture of:
• 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D)
• 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T)

Documented side effects of Agent Orange include:
• Skin irritation and skin diseases, such as chloracne
• Neurological disorders
• Nerve disorders, including peripheral neuropathy
• Miscarriages in women
• Type 2 diabetes
• Birth defects, physical deformities, spina bifida
• Cancers: multiple myeloma, respiratory system cancers, Hodgkin's disease, prostate cancer, leukemia

Source: http://science.howstuffworks.com/agent-orang...

Read more:
http://www.agentorangecanada.com/killme.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,4-d
http://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2011...