EPA accused of failing to regulate use of toxic herbicides despite court order

Soy leaves that were damaged by the weedkiller dicamba as part of University of Wisconsin research into whether the herbicide drifted away from where it was sprayed in Arlington, Wisconsin, in 2018. Photograph: Tom Polansek/Reuters

The US Environmental Protection Agency has in effect ignored a 2020 federal court order prohibiting the use of Monsanto and other producers’ toxic dicamba-based herbicides that are destroying millions of acres of cropland, harming endangered species and increasing cancer risks for farmers, new fillings in the lawsuit charge.

Instead of permanently yanking the products from the market after the 2020 order, the EPA only required industry to add further application instructions to the herbicides’ labels before reapproving the products.