Source: Study shows hazardous herbicide chemical goes airborne
“Dicamba drift”—the movement of the herbicide dicamba off crops through the atmosphere—can result in unintentional damage to neighboring plants. To prevent dicamba drift, other chemicals, typically amines, are mixed with dicamba to “lock” it in place and prevent it from volatilizing, or turning into a vapor that more easily moves in the atmosphere.
Now, new research from the lab of Kimberly Parker, an assistant professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis’ McKelvey School of Engineering, has shed new light on this story by demonstrating for the first time that these amines themselves volatilize, often more than dicamba itself.
Do you think that the chemical pesticide industry has just closed up shop because they lost a few small skirmishes over Roundup? While we were “winning”, their sales went up as much as _five fold_. Who really won? It is easy to be negative. Permaculture is hard. It is hard to come up with possible solutions. But here is something positive that I believe is doable. I would like to see the Sierra club, World Wildlife fund, the Audubon Society, native plant groups, environmental, permaculture and sustainability groups, even local Garden clubs, and scouting groups, get together and eliminate pesticide use in our national parks. The parks are for our native wildlife and plants. We should not be using pesticides in them in the first place. And then…. maybe a 5 Mile pesticide exclusion zone around them. Which would double down on protecting the animals and plants in our national parks and allow people to move to a pesticide reduced environment.
Best to everyone!