Federal Court Wipes Out EPA’s Approval of Three Weedkillers

A federal judge in Arizona revoked the US Environmental Protection Agency‘s approvals of three environmentally damaging, dicabma-based weedkillers and found the agency unlawfully let farmers use them on cotton and soybean crops.

The agency failed to fully account for the environmental and economic costs of dicamba’s propensity to drift to areas that weren’t targeted for weed control, Judge David C. Bury of the US District Court for the District of Arizona said in an order Feb. 6 banning the pesticides. It also failed to consider the social costs that farming communities faced from conflicts that ensued with neighboring locals ...