Showdown in Arkansas: Record number of citizen comments open public debate on regulating Monsanto's super poison

What: This Wednesday Arkansas will hold a public hearing that will help determine the future of dicamba, Monsanto’s controversial pesticide that can drift for miles and damages most broadleaf plants in its path that are not genetically modified to resist dicamba. Now the billion-dollar company is suing the state to stop them from regulating dicamba to protect farmers and fields. The Arkansas State Plant Board is holding a public hearing in Little Rock (Arkansas), where citizens will have an opportunity to present oral comments, to conclude a month-long public comment period that resulted in over 25,000 comments received by email and mail - smashing state records.

When: November 8 beginning at 9:00 a.m.

Where: Embassy Suites Hotel in Little Rock 11301, Financial Centre Parkway, Little Rock Arkansas 72211, United States

Background: Nearly 1,000 farmers filed complaints with the state regarding a new above-crop application of the dicamba pesticide, many concerning drift from neighboring farms that damaged their own crops. After consideration, the Arkansas State Plant Board voted to approve regulatory changes for the application of products labeled for agricultural use that contain dicamba in Arkansas during their regularly scheduled quarterly meeting on September 21. Changes will prohibit the use in Arkansas between April 16 and October 31, 2018. The regulations include exemptions for the use of dicamba in pastures, rangeland, turf, ornamental, direct injection for forestry, and home use. The Board’s regulatory changes concerning the use of dicamba were subject to a 30 day public comment period which ended on October 30. After the public hearing, the final proposed rule will be forwarded to the Executive Subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council for final rule approval.

More information and resources for journalists:

* Find more about Avaaz campaign against dicamba:

(1) See our one million strong petition here

(2) Connect with us at media@avaaz.org or reply this email for more information.

(3) Follow us on Twitter for updates from the ground

* Official information available for the public and the media:

You can find more official information about this event in the press release from the Arkansas Agriculture Department, dated last month: see original release. The public comments, the proposed regulations, and other dicamba information and updates are available to the public at the dicamba Information and Updates page. For more official information, we advise media to contact the Communications Director of Arkansas Agriculture Department, Adriane Barnes at (501) 516-6255 or email: adriane.barnes@arkansas.gov

* Media coverage:

(1) This piece at NBC inform about the conflict between Monsanto and the farmers about the use of dicamba.

(2) This piece in NPR is a good synopsis of the conflict between Monsanto and scientists that question the security of dicamba.

(3) This piece from Reuters indicates how overwhelmed the officials of Agriculture departments in the US are on the high quantity of complaints submitted by the farmers over dicamba.

(4) This piece in the New York Times goes beyond that conflict and informs that, according to EPA, more than 3.6 million acres of soybean crops were damaged by dicamba.

(5) This piece also from NPR features the story of division between farm communities and environmental damage caused by dicamba.