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2,4-D Science and Public Perception by Donald L. Page, Executive Director Industry Task Force P on 2,4-D Research Data Exclusive to Wheat Life As pointed out in an article in Wheat Life's October, 1996 issue, the 2,4-D Task Force had submitted the last of the 270 reseazch studies required by the U.S. Environ- mental Protection Agency (EPA) for the re-registration of the herbicide 2,4-D, and that while ongoing research continues, that phase of the eight year, thirty million dollar project has been completed. By and large, these studies simply confirmed what is already known about 2,4-D, the world's most extensively researched herbicide, and certainly no new "red flags" were raised. The toxicology studies confirmed that 2,4-D, even at extraordinary high doses - -many thousands of times higher than what might be found in the environ- ment - -does not cause cancer in laboratory animals. The studies also confirmed that 2,4- D does not cause birth defects, has low potential to cause neurotoxicity in both short- and long-term exposures and does not cause genetic damage. Nor is it likely to present any threat to wildlife. Is industry research valid? This is a question being raised increasingly often by anti-pesticide advocacy groups. Such advocacy groups invariably forget that ninety percent of all American re- search is done by U.S. industry, and that American research is second to none in the world. They also assume that the 2,4-D studies were done by either the Task Force or its four member companies, a gross misconception. This very specialized research was actu- ally done by more than 50 research laboratories and scientific consulting companies across the country (a list of all of them can be made available on request). The research compa- nies were selected on the basis of their proven ability to meet EPA's extraordinarily strin- gent Good Laboratory Practices (GLPs) and on the basis of competitive bids. What are GLPs, and why is a GLP study important? Good Laboratory Practices are a system of strict regulations and controls which must be met on any industry research used for regulatory purposes. This requires, among other things, that each step of the re- search beproperly verified and recorded by the researcher responsible. GLPs requve an independent quality audit of each study, something that necessitates the hiring of an inde- pendent GLP quality assurance consultant for each study. An unintentional GLP violation can invalidate a study, requiring it to be done over. Since research is very expensive, you