"Environmental Protection Agency asked firm to choose rules it wanted for dicamba, then put the choices in a proposed federal rule"
"The EPA allowed pesticide giant Bayer to pick from a menu of regulation options for the controversial and destructive weedkiller dicamba, newly released internal agency documents show.
The documents provide an unusually clear look into the process of developing pesticide regulations, which is typically done out of public view. It shows in detail how the EPA asked Bayer which regulations it wanted, received a response from Bayer, then put Bayer’s choices into a proposed federal rule.
Dicamba is drift prone and kills vegetation and crops for miles around fields where it is sprayed, and is linked to liver cancer and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Courts have twice ordered it off the market because of its drift problems, but the EPA has re-approved it.
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The EPA solicited Bayer’s input on the level of restrictions to limit dicamba volatility and runoff, ranging from more protective to less protective, records released in ongoing litigation over the substance show. The EPA concluded one presentation with a slide entitled “Registrant response needed” which posed the question “Which mitigation option to go forward with?”"
