Dow Chemical says it believes it can work quickly with EPA to provide assurances its Enlist technology’s conditions of registered use will continue to protect the environment, including threatened and endangered plant species.

The statement was in response to an EPA-filed motion to vacate the registration of Enlist Duo herbicide after environmental groups claimed the combination of glyphosate and 2.4-D in the product would likely be more harmful to endangered species than previously anticipated.

“We believe the questions that have been raised about any potential synergy between 2,4-D choline and glyphosate can be promptly resolved in the next few months, in time for the 2016 crop use season,” said Tim Hassinger, Dow AgroSciences president and CEO.

“It’s possible that we could see some changes to use conditions on the existing Enlist Duo label,” Hassinger added. “However, based on the ongoing dialogue with EPA, we do not expect these issues to result in the long-term cancellation of the Enlist Duo product registration. We continue to prepare for commercial sales of Enlist Duo for the 2016 growing season with enthusiastic grower adoption.”

Evaluations of potential synergy from herbicidal mixtures are common within the crop protection industry and are not unique to Dow AgroSciences or Enlist Duo. EPA has not used observations of potential synergy in mixtures as a basis for regulatory action.

Technology providers, like Dow AgroSciences, have commonly filed patent applications on mixtures, without there being any connection to EPA’s regulatory processes.

“EPA now has all of the data developed by Dow AgroSciences on observed potential synergies between 2,4-D choline and glyphosate in Enlist Duo,” Hassinger added. “From these data, EPA will readily see – after evaluating all of the efficacy data on the final formulation – why these data support the registration of Enlist Duo.”

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