For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s Genetic Engineering page and our Millions Against Monsanto page.

As weeds and bugs evolve to resist the poisons designed to destroy them, farmers may be forced to turn to an old and toxic herbicide that has been connected to multiple health and environmental complications.

Monsanto’s Roundup has been farmers’ herbicides-of-choice for years and is so effective that Roundup itself created its own line of seeds that are genetically engineered to withstand the herbicide. The invention of the “Roundup Ready” seeds allowed large-scale farmers to simply douse their fields with Roundup, which would kill off all plant life except the desired crop.

Roundup Ready corn, soy and cotton is now a staple for U.S. farmers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that 94 percent of soybeans and 70 percent of corn and cotton planted in the nation are genetically-altered Roundup Ready products.

Years of exposure to Roundup has led to the development of Roundup-resistant weeds.  The Southeast Farm Press reports that researchers from the University of Illinois have suggested that farmers turn back to an herbicide that is largely considered to be a “dinosaur”: 2,4-D,  one of the active ingredients in the Agent Orange defoliant that was disastrously used during the Vietnam War.