Center for Food Safety Files Motion for Summary Judgment in Challenge to EPA’s Approval of Toxic Enlist Herbicides

25 August 2025, Washington: Late yesterday, plaintiffs Center for Food Safety (CFS), Pesticide Action and Agroecology Network, and Alianza Nacional de Campesinas (represented by the Center for Food Safety) filed a motion for summary judgment in an ongoing case against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the unlawful approval of Enlist One and Enlist Duo—two herbicides that contain highly toxic 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). Enlist Duo also contains the added ingredient glyphosate, another toxic herbicide with harmful effects on human health. 

In the agency’s registration of both Enlist products, EPA sidestepped its legal obligations under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to ensure pesticides “will not generally cause unreasonable adverse effects on the environment” before registering or renewing them. 

“EPA approved these toxic products without performing the rigorous cost-benefit analysis the law demands, despite new evidence demonstrating the significant harmful effects of these toxic herbicides.” said Kristina Sinclair, staff attorney at CFS. “Farmers, rural communities, pollinators, and our environment cannot afford to contend with the impacts of EPA’s shortcuts.”  

EPA’s Failures in the Enlist Re-Approval 

CFS’s filing details how EPA’s re-approval of Enlist One and Enlist Duo tilted the scales in favor of pesticide manufacturers while downplaying—or outright ignoring—the mounting costs: 

• Outdated and misleading usage data: EPA relied on early commercialization figures, disregarding recent data showing surging use.
• Understated costs of resistance: EPA admitted 2,4-D drives “highly concerning” herbicide resistance yet failed to analyze its economic or environmental toll.
• Inflated benefits: EPA portrayed Enlist products as effective against resistant weeds despite evidence of overreliance fueling even more resistance.
• Ineffective mitigation measures: EPA approved “pick list” runoff controls and 3-foot vegetative buffers that its own scientists have deemed inadequate.

Enlist herbicides have been linked to the poisoning of monarch butterflies and destruction of their milkweed habitat, contamination of water supplies, crop damage from off-target drift, and the spread of “superweeds” resistant to multiple classes of herbicides. These impacts impose billions of dollars in costs on farmers and degrade ecosystems for generations. 

“It’s clear that Enlist herbicides are harming farmworkers and rural communities. The EPA’s approval of these dangerous pesticides puts women and their communities at risk, including heightened cases of reproductive issues and cancer, and shows an utter disregard for public health. We cannot allow the use of chemicals like Enlist without properly considering necessary health safeguards or community protection measures that can protect every single woman, child and man forced to interact with these pesticides,” said Mily Trevino-Sauceda, Executive Director of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas. 

“Enlist and Enlist Duo products encourage the continued and increased use of an herbicide that is known to volatilize and drift, 2,4-D. Seasonal application often impacts non-resistant food crops – stunting growth, reducing quality production, and weakening plants. Repeated applications over the years harm trees and other perennial growth, resulting in distorted leaves and weakened plants. Farms like mine rely on diverse plant life to produce healthy food, but misuse and overuse of products like 2,4-D makes our work much more difficult. Our food production numbers have been impacted negatively many times by drifting herbicides during my twenty years farming. It is imperative that use of these products be limited in order to support food production and wild spaces,” said Rob Faux, Iowa farmer and Communications Manager for Pesticide Action and Agroecology Network. 

Glyphosate’s Known Health Risks 

Enlist Duo contains glyphosate, the world’s most widely used herbicide. Glyphosate has been linked to serious health harms, including elevated risk of certain cancers. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen, and studies have connected exposure to non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other chronic health issues. In a prior landmark case brought by CFS, the court found that EPA violated the law when it ignored or downplayed these cancer risks in its human health assessment of glyphosate. 

“EPA has already been told by the courts that it failed to adequately assess glyphosate’s threats to human health,” said Amy van Saun, senior attorney at CFS. “Yet here we are again, with the agency doubling down on the same dangerous mistakes.” 

“EPA is supposed to protect the public and the environment—not rubber-stamp industry requests,” added Sinclair. “We’re asking the court to vacate these registrations once and for all.” 

CFS has been at the forefront of legal battles against toxic pesticide approvals for more than two decades, securing landmark court decisions that have forced EPA to reassess dangerous chemicals and safeguard pollinators, endangered species, and rural communities.

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