Question: How to identify herbicide known as Dicamba or identify the damage it causes?

liz is asking a question about general
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by liz | October 27, 2017 13:21 | #15108


I'm posting this question on behalf of a farming community member. Dicamba is a namebrand Monsanto herbicide that is paired with genetically modified crops who are resistant to it, however, it volatilizes (not simply physical drift) beyond the fields where it is applied, damaging other crops.

Here's an excerpt from yesterday's NPR coverage:

Yet the companies — especially Monsanto — made it difficult for university scientists to verify those claims with independent tests before the products were released commercially.

"I wish we could have done more testing. We've been asking to do more testing for several years, but the product was not made available to us," says Bob Scott, a weed scientist at the University of Arkansas. "These are proprietary products. Until they release those formulations for testing, we're not allowed to [test them]."

Perhaps these questions are good starting points that can be refined?

  • How do scientists identify Dicamba?
  • Are there any leads on accessible methods for identifying the presence of Dicamba?
  • Are there practices for identifying the damage caused by volatilized Dicamba?


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