After A Decade Of Lawsuits, Corteva Will Stop Making Enlist Duo, Herbicide Mix Of Glyphosate And Agent Orange

[hatrack]

The chemical giant Corteva will stop producing Enlist Duo, a herbicide considered to be among the most dangerous still used in the US by environmentalists because it contains a mix of Agent Orange and glyphosate, which have both been linked to cancer and widespread ecological damage. The US military deployed Agent Orange, a chemical weapon, to destroy vegetation during the Vietnam war, causing serious health problems among soldiers and Vietnamese residents.

Glyphosate, meanwhile, is a highly controversial and toxic herbicide ingredient that has prompted similar litigation. Both are banned or severely restricted in many industrialized countries. Despite the risks of combining the substances, the US Environmental Protection Agency has twice approved it for use on food crops. The compound is annually spread on around 4.5m acres of fields in which corn, soybeans and genetically engineered cotton are grown.

The move will bring to an end a decade of litigation and public pressure campaigns to ban Enlist Duo, and advocates are “celebrating it as a win”, said Kristina Sinclair, a staff attorney with the Center for Food Safety (CFS) non-profit, which is a lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.

EDIT

Corteva did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Sinclair said it was unclear why the company decided to pull Enlist Duo. Corteva reported selling more than $1bn in Enlist products in 2022. The Agent Orange chemical 2,4-D will still be used in Enlist One, and a lawsuit that asks a judge to invalidate its approval will continue. 2,4-D works by attacking the roots and leaves of weeds and causing them to produce unwanted cells, not unlike inducing cancer, to kill or hobble them. The substance is considered a “possible” carcinogen by the World Health Organization, and, among other human health effects, it is linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, birth defects, respiratory problems, Parkinson’s disease and reproductive harms.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/09/corteva-agent-orange-glyphosate-herbicide

[niyad]

1. Had never heard of it, or the company, before.

And I am disappointed in the Guardian for such sloppy writing. That first sentence can read as if the environmentalists are the ones using the product.

Geez, I had thought "roundup" was bad enough. agent orange??? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??? Love Canal, Times Beach, Vietnam agent orange??? People are still paying the price of agent orange, including the people of Vietnam, and those sent to that horror show.

AGENT FUCKING ORANGE???

[hatrack]

2. I'd like to think that the Guardian isn't using AI to write its stories, but . . .

"King's English" my foot.

[niyad]

4. I do not often encounter such sloppiness in the Guardian, unlike, say,

almost all American media.

[Dickster]

3. Enlist Duo does not contain Agent Orange...

Agent Orange was a cocktail of several herbicides, that’s what made it so effective. Dicamba was one part of that mix, which is one of the ingredients in Enlist Duo. The issue with Dicamba is that it has a very low vapor pressure, and it volitolizes under certain environmental conditions, like high heat and humidity, and drifts to non target fields and causes damage. The lawsuits have been about crop damage to neighboring fields.