The office for environmental protection (EPA) in court seeking cancellation of registration of the new herbicide Enlist Duo, Dow Chemical Co, as the office reviews new information concerning the effects of this product on plants that are not subject to the action of the herbicide, according to court documents.

EPA has authorized the herbicide for sale and use in several U.S. States over a year ago, but later found that assessment of two active ingredients was incomplete.

Enlist Duo developed by Dow AgroSciences, a division of Dow Chemical, belongs to the group of herbicides of the next generation, designed to cope with weeds resistant to glyphosate, a widely used herbicide in the U.S. and the active ingredient in Roundup Monsanto Co.

Enlist Duo, which combines component 2,4-D with glyphosate, intended for use on corn and soybeans that had been genetically modified to resist him.

Dow AgroSciences stated that these two active ingredients work better in combinations, according to the lawsuit. The EPA study showed that components do not have such a synergistic effect.

According to new information, EPA's analysis may have underestimated the phytotoxicity of the product, so the EPA can no longer be confident that Enlist Duo will not cause a hazard risk for organisms that are the target of his actions.

Dow Chemical reported that it is collaborating with EPA to provide further safeguards to Enlist, and expects a quick resolution of all open issues.

Rival Monsanto Co., which produces seeds and agrochemicals, said that is not worried about its platform of next generation herbicide Xtend, which combines the herbicide dicamba with glyphosate. Monsanto's patent application does not include information about the synergistic effect between glyphosate and dicamba. The regulators were given the data package, which will provide product approval, said the representative of Monsanto.

Shares of Dow Chemical fell by 2.6% to 51,98$.

Source: Thomson Reuters