NRDC seeks ban of 2,4-D herbicide

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in USA on Thursday filed a lawsuit to compel the federal government to ban the chemical 2,4-D, an Agent Orange ingredient common in weed killers.

The NRDC alleges that the Environmental Protection Agency has flouted a petition calling for the EPA to no longer license the World War II-era systemic weed killer 2,4-D, or diethanolamine salt and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid.

The lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia asks the court to intervene in NRDC’s 2008 petition that the EPA ban use of the chemical that has been used in the United States since the 1940s.

The complaint asks the appeals court to compel the EPA to cancel all 2,4-D registrations and revoke all regulatory tolerances for the chemical within 45 days of the court’s decision.

The compound is one of two ingredients in the neurotoxic herbicide and defoliant Agent Orange, which the U.S. military used in the Vietnam War.

About 46 million pounds of 2,4-D are used in the United States every year, NRDC said.
Classified by the EPA as a hazardous air pollutant, exposure to 2,4-D can cause damage to the nervous system, liver and kidneys.

"It’s really time to connect the dots with this chemical and be much more cautious about its use,” NRDC Senior Scientist Gina Solomon said. “Right now it’s used in widespread fashion on people’s lawns, back yards, playgrounds, ball fields and soccer fields, where kids are getting it on their skin. That’s a particular problem.”

In 2005, the EPA granted re-registration of 2,4-D, approving the herbicide’s continued use. It is manufactured principally by Rhône-Poulenc Ag Co., based in Research Triangle Park, N.C.