US chemical giant Corteva has announced it will cease production of Enlist Duo, a herbicide that environmentalists have long condemned as a 'toxic cocktail' due to its combination of an Agent Orange ingredient and glyphosate. Both substances have been linked to cancer and ecological damage, with Agent Orange infamously used as a chemical weapon during the Vietnam War.
The decision follows over a decade of legal battles and public pressure. Kristina Sinclair, a staff attorney with the Center for Food Safety, which led a lawsuit against the product, described the move as a victory. 'After over a decade of legal battles, rather than try to rebut our arguments in court, the manufacturer pulled Enlist Duo from the market,' she said.
Corteva, however, stated that the decision was based on commercial considerations, noting that Enlist Duo accounted for only 1% of sales. The company will continue to produce Enlist One, which contains the Agent Orange chemical 2,4-D but not glyphosate. A separate lawsuit challenging the approval of Enlist One will proceed.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had twice approved Enlist Duo for use on food crops, despite a federal court invalidating its approval in 2020. The EPA reapproved it in 2022 for seven years, a decision critics say reflects a flawed approach to pesticide regulation. Nathan Donley of the Center for Biological Diversity criticised the agency for prioritising market access over safety.
Enlist Duo was used on approximately 4.5 million acres of corn, soybeans, and genetically engineered cotton annually. The herbicide 2,4-D, classified as a 'possible' carcinogen by the World Health Organization, has been linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, birth defects, and other health issues, as well as harm to endangered species.
