Agent Orange Corn (GE corn)

Dow Chemical manufactured “Agent Orange,” a herbicide and defoliant that was widely used for clearing jungles in the Vietnam War. Dow AgroSciences attempted to introduce a genetically engineered (GE) corn crop, under the brand “Enlist,” in the 2010s that would be resistant to pesticides.
 
Many critics said that the genetically engineered corn would be toxic to humans, causing health problems just as Dow’s Agent Orange had caused. The term “Agent Orange corn bombs” was used in December 2011 and “Agent Orange Corn” was used in January 2012.
 
   

Agent Orange or Herbicide Orange (HO) is one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. It was a mixture of equal parts of two herbicides, 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D.
 
Herbicides, or weed-killing chemicals, had long been used in American agriculture. After World War I, the military of various nations realized their potential for war and developed techniques to use them. Although the Italians had used lethal chemicals delivered from the air in Abyssinia in 1936, the Allies and Axis in World War II abstained from using the weapon either because of legal restrictions, or to avoid retaliation in kind. During the early 1950s, the British on a limited basis employed herbicides to destroy the crops of communist insurgents in Malaya. In 1961, President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam asked the United States to conduct aerial herbicide spraying in his country. In August of that year, the South Vietnamese Air Force initiated herbicide operations with American help. But Diem’s request launched a policy debate in the White House and the State and Defense Departments.
 
Agent Orange was manufactured for the U.S. Department of Defense primarily by Monsanto Corporation and Dow Chemical. It was given its name from the color of the orange-striped barrels in which it was shipped, and was by far the most widely used of the so-called “Rainbow Herbicides”.
 
Natural News
America’s farmlands to be carpet-bombed with Vietnam-era Agent Orange chemical if Dow petition approved
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
America’s farmlands to be carpet-bombed with Vietnam-era Agent Orange chemical if Dow petition approved
A key chemical of one of the most horrifying elements of the Vietnam War — Agent Orange — may soon be unleashed on America’s farmlands. Considered by world nations to be a “Weapon of Mass Destruction” (WMD), Agent Orange was dropped in the millions of gallons on civilian populations during the Vietnam War in order to destroy foliage and poison North Vietnamese soldiers. The former president of the Vietnamese Red Cross, Professor Nhan, described it as, “…a massive violation of human rights of the civilian population, and a weapon of mass destruction.”
 
A key chemical in that weapon — 2,4-D — is just months away from being dropped on agricultural land across the United States. Dow AgroSciences, which along with DuPont and Monsanto is heavily invested in genetically engineered crops, has petitioned the U.S. government to deregulate a variety of GE corn that’s resistant to 2,4-D, which comprises 50% of the recipe of Agent Orange.
     
If the petition is approved by Washington, it would turn America’s corn fields into chemical warfare zones targeted for mass pesticide poisoning with 2,4-D chemicals. The corn, of course, would be immune to 2,4-D, so it would uptake the chemical and transport it right into the structure of the corn kernels, creating “Agent Orange corn bombs” that would be chemically unleashed when consumed by human beings.
 
Twitter
mae~mc ♎
‏@mae37
Agent Orange Corn—toxic and dangerous. Vietnam-era chemical to poison US farms: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/218165.html … #health #environment
11:11 PM - 2 Jan 2012
 
The Huffington Post
Lucia Graves
‘Agent Orange Corn’ Debate Rages As Dow Seeks Approval Of New Genetically Modified Seed
Posted: 04/26/2012 1:27 pm EDT Updated: 10/29/2012 12:09 am EDT
WASHINGTON—A new kind of genetically modified crop under the brand name of “Enlist”—known by its critics as “Agent Orange corn”—has opponents pushing U.S. regulators to scrutinize the product more closely and reject an application by Dow AgroSciences to roll out its herbicide-resistant seeds.
 
The corn has been genetically engineered to be immune to 2,4-D, an ingredient used in Agent Orange that some say could pose a serious threat to the environment and to human health. Approval by the United States Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency would allow farmers to spray it far and wide without damaging their crops, boosting profits for the agribusiness giant.
 
Farming Online
Controversy over ‘Agent Orange’ Corn reaches fever pitch in United States
Monday 30 April 2012
News that a licensing application for genetically modified maize, engineered to be resistant to herbicide 2,4-D, may be passed in the United States has been met with vocal opposition from farming groups and conservationist organisations.

The US Agriculture Department application process for agchem giant DOW Chemical’s new GM maize is nearing its end and the department is expected to grant its approval. However, the news has stirred up controversy. Although 2,4-D is a widely used herbicide, its infamy as a principal ingredient of the devastating chemical weapon Agent Orange has led to widespread calls to reject DOW’s application.
 
Infowars.com
‘Agent Orange Corn’: Biotech Companies Are Waging a Chemical Arms Race on Our Food Supply
John Robbins
Food Revolution Network
January 19, 2014
The Obama administration announced last week that it expects to approve corn and soybeans that have been genetically engineered by Dow Chemical company to tolerate the toxic herbicide — 2,4-D. They are planning this approval despite the fact that use of this herbicide is associated with increased rates of deadly immune system cancers, Parkinson’s disease, endocrine disruption, birth defects, and many other serious kinds of illness and reproductive problems.