An official at Dow AgroSciences says the company decided to restrict sales of its new genetically engineered Enlist corn and soybeans after “extensive talks with U.S. grain leaders who fear roiling trade with China,” says Reuters. Dow applied about two years ago for Chinese approval of the strains, engineered to tolerate the weedkillers 2,4-D and glyphosate. “We want to make sure we respect their process,” the official told Reuters. China has rejected imports of more than 1 million tonnes of U.S. corn on ground they included grain from a Syngenta corn variety that is approved in the United States but not China.
Dow’s new herbicide, a mixture of 2,4-D and glyphosate, is expected to give farmers a breather from the emergence of glyphosate-resistant weeds. In a story, “Field of weeds,”PBS’s NewsHour interviewed Mike Owen, a weed expert from Iowa State University, who said pesticide-resistant weeds are wide-spread, as well as economically significant, problem. The NewsHour also interviewed a GMO skeptic who worries about the impact of greater use of weedkillers.