Arkansas proposes ban on dicamba herbicide
The proposal -- as recommended June 23 by the state Plant Board and backed a week later by Gov. Asa Hutchinson -- got a cool, if not hostile, reception Wednesday from the eight-member executive subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council.
As of noon Wednesday, the Plant Board, a division of the state Department of Agriculture, had received 551 complaints of damage to soybeans, cotton, vegetables and fruit, up from 25 complaints four weeks ago.
The increasing numbers led Hutchinson to sign on to a 120-day emergency ban on the sale and use of dicamba. Only one dicamba-based herbicide -- BASF's -- has been approved for in-crop use in Arkansas. All other formulations of dicamba are illegal because of their propensity to drift or to lift from targeted crops at night and move, in either a gas or liquid form, to distant fields.
source: arkansasonline.com
