Tell USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack Not to Approve New 2,4-D-Resistant GMO Crops

Remember Agent Orange? The 2,4-D chemical concoction commissioned by the U.S. Army to defoliate jungles and destroy food crops during the Vietnam War? It could soon be coming to a grocery store near you. Within a week, the USDA could approve Dow's new "Enlist" brand corn, genetically engineered to resist massive doses of the herbicide 2,4-D. Unless we stop it.

The list of reasons to tell USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to reject Dow’s Agent Orange Corn is long. A large body of evidence indicates major health problems result from exposure to 2,4-D, including cancer, reproductive problems, neurotoxicity, and auto-immune disorders. And 2,4-D is devastating to the environment. It’s currently the seventh largest source of dioxin pollution in the US. The use of this toxic herbicide is projected to increase 50-fold if the USDA approves this crop.

The USDA has already received more than 450,000 comments opposing Dow's new GE corn. But it has a long history of avoiding protests and bad press by issuing unpopular decisions right before the holidays.

Thanks to Michael Taylor, a former Monsanto lobbyist who now heads up the FDA, genetically engineered foods don't have to be safety tested or labeled. Worse yet, the FDA conducts no premarket review or approval, as long as the biotech company concludes that the genetically engineered food is not "materially different" from normal food. That essentially means a rubber stamp for  Dow's Agent Orange corn. Soon, we'll be eating unlabeled corn engineered with genes from a soil bacterium that isn't killed by 2,4-D -- something we've never eaten before and that's never been safety tested.

Please take action today to stop new 2,4-D resistant genetically engineered crops!