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I was a member of the FDA Food Advisory Committee when the agency approved production of genetically modified foods in the early 1990s.
At the time, critics repeatedly warned that widespread planting of GM crops modified to resist Monsanto's weed-killer, Roundup, were highly likely to select for "superweeds" that could withstand treatment with Roundup.
How is the chemical industry responding to this threat? Zap it harder!
The industry is pressing the U.S. and Canadian governments to approve GM corn engineered to resist 2,4-D.
Remember 2,4-D? It was the principal ingredient in Agent Orange, the defoliant used during the Vietnam War. Although the health problems it caused have been attributed to contamination with dioxin, the uncontaminated chemical has also been associated with illness in some studies (the Wikipedia entry has references).
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
I guess I'm concerned with what the "next level" will be if current treatments don't work. It kind of feels like our situation with antibiotics not working anymore on the "super bugs". Where is it going to go?
2-4-D has been labeled for use on non-GMO corn for over 50 years. Here's a specimen label:
