The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has decided to reapprove the broad-spectrum herbicide dicamba for use on some genetically modified soybeans and cotton, saying the product is crucial to controlling resistant weeds in growing crops.
Dicamba has been shown to damage non-target plant species through spray or vapour drift or volatilisation. In June 2020, Bayer agreed to pay $400 million (£293 million) to settle lawsuits involving damage caused when dicamba drifted onto nearby crops not engineered to resist it.
‘When applied according to the new label instructions, EPA’s analysis found no unreasonable risk to human health and the environment from OTT dicamba use,’ the EPA stated. The re-approval focuses on ‘over-the-top’ (OTT) spraying onto fields where weeds are growing amongst the desired crop.
The agency acknowledged that ‘previous drift issues created legitimate concerns,’ but said it has designed new label restrictions ‘to directly address them’. This includes cutting the amount of dicamba that can be used annually in half and restricting applications during high temperatures when exposure and volatility risks increase.
In 2024, a US court overturned the EPA’s previous reapproval of dicamba from 2020, during President Trump’s first term as president, after concluding that the agency violated pesticide registration procedures in approving those product registrations.
The Center for Biological Diversity, a US-based non-profit conservation organisation, notes that this new EPA approval follows the appointment last year of Kyle Kunkler, who had served as a senior lobbyist for the American Soybean Association for more than five years, as the deputy assistant administrator for pesticides in the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. Previously, Kunkler had directed federal government relations at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, which represents biotech companies in the US.
Meanwhile, dicamba is approved for limited use in the EU until March 2027, while regulators are consulting on whether to further extend its approval. However, because widespread planting of dicamba-tolerant soybeans is not authorised in the EU, the OTT spraying method that has sparked concerns about drift in the US is virtually non-existent in the EU. The situation is similar in other countries including Australia, where there are also specific rules to prevent the product from drifting onto nearby, sensitive crops. –
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