But it also leans into several priorities for the chemical and pesticide industries, from accelerating EPA reviews of new pesticides so they can be brought to market more quickly to increasing the use of non-animal testing to evaluate chemicals’ risks. Already, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is transferring many of the agency’s independent scientists to the office tasked with swiftly reviewing new products.
Tough choice coming, and we’ve seen it coming. Waterhemp is becoming impossible to control. We’re now using 4 different herbicides at great expense to try to kill it. Convintro (difulfenican) is what they’re going to try next. It has been used in Europe for years. So the choice is between tillage which uses fuel and time and causes erosion, or a forever chemical, which they are not currently calling a forever chemical, just a very persistent chemical.
I called my weed extension agronomist and talked to him about this and said the chemical companies will not solve the problem as it is not in their interest. I told him we need a gene drive that makes all waterhemp susceptible to a couple herbicides. There will be a refuge in ditches and creeks and roadsides which will continue to force the population to being susceptible. It’s obvious and brilliant and should have been done already. He hadn’t heard of gene drive. He had been breeding conventionally and coming up with schemes that will not work. He said he’d get back to me after talking to his genetics guy. Have not heard back. I hate bothering people but need to do it again.