Barrage of dicamba drift complaints overwhelm state agencies that investigate pesticide damage - Entrepreneur Generations

State agencies responsible for investigating pesticide misuse reports have been overwhelmed by complaints about dicamba for the past three years, and many are asking the Environmental Protection Agency for help, Dan Charles reports for NPR.

Dicamba is an herbicide notorious for vaporizing and drifting into nearby fields, damaging crops that aren't genetically engineered to be resistant. It was once sprayed only before crops sprouted, but in 2016 the EPA allowed farmers to spray it on already growing GMO soybean plants. That helped GMO soybean farmers, but has caused a large increase in complaints from farmers who say their non-GMO crops were damaged, Charles reports.

State agencies have to investigate each complaint of pesticide drift and decide whether it happened because someone broke the law, "but many have struggled to keep up. In Illinois, the number of complaints soared from about 120 in the pre-dicamba era to more than 700 in 2019. In Indiana, it went from about 60 to 200," Charles reports. "Meanwhile, because they're fully occupied with dicamba complaints, inspectors don't have time for all their other work, such as routine inspections of pesticide use at schools, golf courses or businesses."

The dicamba complaints aren't likely going away any time soon. Several states have banned or restricted dicamba use over the past few years, but in November of 2018 the EPA extended approval of dicamba until the end of 2020. "The agency decided the problems could be addressed with a few new restrictions on how and where dicamba can be sprayed, along with more training for people who use it," Charles reports. 

However, dicamba complaints have continued to increase; where they have decreased, there is evidence that most people aren't filing complaints because they don't think it will do any good, Charles reports.

The heavy workload has resulted in high staff turnover in some state agencies. In the past year and a half, all but one of Missouri's eight pesticide inspectors left their jobs, Charles reports. And, frustratingly, the EPA may not be paying much attention to the reports anyway. The EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs stopped asking for routine updates on state regulators' injury reports last year.

The herbicide is under increased scrutiny right now as dicamba makers Bayer (formerly Monsanto) and BASF face allegations in a civil suit that they deliberately sold a product known to hurt non-resistant crops in order to increase their sales. The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting has an in-depth package on the trial.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2uFhV8A Barrage of dicamba drift complaints overwhelm state agencies that investigate pesticide damage - Entrepreneur Generations

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