Tell USDA We Won't Stand for GMO Herbicide-Resistant Cotton!

Monsanto has petitioned APHIS, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the USDA, to freely use and distribute cotton genetically engineered for tolerance to the herbicides dicamba and glufosinate. They are asking for public comments to help them identify potential environmental and interrelated economic issues and impacts. In the U.S. and Latin America, these chemicals are widely used as “super herbicides” for genetically modified crops, mainly on rapeseed, maize, soy bean, cotton, rice and sugar beets.

These new herbicide-resistant crops will be planted alongside conventional and organic crops. This increases the potential for cross-contamination, and for the spillover of toxic herbicides into the groundwater and neighboring farms.

Please write to USDA and protest this plan.

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USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

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Document ID APHIS-2012-0097-0001

Dear [Decision Maker],

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I was shocked to learn that APHIS was considering Monsanto's petition to freely use and distribute their genetically engineered cotton. Please deny their petition!

The cotton is genetically engineered to withstand two herbicides. One of them, dicamba, has attracted attention because of the toxicity of its contaminants, both dioxin and nitrosamines, and its propensity to leach through soil. The second, glufosinate, is reprotoxic, with laboratory experiments causing premature birth, intra-uterine death, and abortions in rats. Japanese studies show that the substance can also hamper the development and activity of the human brain.

The cotton plants themselves are not safe. Agricultural laborers who picked or loaded GMO cotton reported reactions of the skin, eyes and upper respiratory tract, with some of them requiring hospitalization. Employees at a cotton gin factory take antihistamines every day. After the cotton harvest in parts of India, sheep herds grazed continuously on GMO cotton plants; 25% of the sheep died within a week, and post-mortem studies suggest a toxic reaction.

Please, do not permit this cotton to be freely distributed!

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
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