01/May/20

 

On April 28, the Association of American Pesticide Control Officials (AAPCO) sent the US EPA a letter asking that the agency consider banning postemergence use of four dicamba herbicides - XtendiMax (Bayer), Engenia (BASF), FeXapan (Corteva) and Tavium (Syngenta) - when it makes its decision on their current registrations, set to expire in December 2020. "Based on application dates of dicamba complaints investigated by the major soybean producing states in 2017 through 2019, prohibiting OTT [over-the-top] applications could greatly reduce dicamba complaint investigations," the letter stated. The regulatory group also requested EPA make any future registration of these herbicides "conditional on a year-by-year basis." [GMW: Dicamba is sprayed on GM dicamba-tolerant crops but has become notorious for drifting and causing damage to other plants.] DTN Progressive Farmer

 

 

A rising international force of rebel botanists armed with chalk has taken up street graffiti to highlight the names and importance of the diverse but downtrodden flora growing in the cracks of paths and walls in towns and cities across Europe. The idea of naming wild plants wherever they go – which began in France – has gone viral, with people chalking and sharing their images on social media. France banned pesticide use in parks, streets and other public spaces in 2017 and in gardens from 2019, leading to a surge in awareness of urban wild flowers in the country. The Guardian