Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–August 27, 2015. Last week, Philip J. Landrigan, M.D., and Charles Benbrook, Ph.D., released a perspective article, GMOs, Herbicides, and Public Health, in the New England Journal of Medicine that outlines the hazards associated with food residues of elevated pesticide use in the production of genetically engineered (GE) crops. While mainstream media continuously misses the central issue in the GE debate by asserting that these crops are merely an extension of selective breeding and effect a reduction in pesticide use, the authors focus on the significance of the actual increase in herbicide use and weed resistance in herbicide-tolerant crops. Drs. Landrigan and Benbrook offer two main recommendations in their article: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should delay implementation of its decision to permit the use of Enlist Duo (the 2,4-D herbicide used with Monsanto-engineered GE herbicide-tolerant crop), and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should require labeling of GE foods and couple it with adequately funded, long-term postmarketing surveillance.
