Hundreds of thousands of individuals, organizations and farmers are pushing the USDA to stop the approval of Dow AgroSciences' 2,4-D-resistant corn, dubbed 'Agent Orange corn' by its opponents, who say the product poses a threat to public health and the environment.

The product, officially called 'Enlist,' is a genetically modified crop able to withstand being sprayed with 2,4-D, one of the components of Agent Orange, so that farmers can spray the pesticide to kill weeds without killing the crop.

As the New York Times explains, the 2,4-D-resistant corn was seen as necessary because farmers had overused glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's RoundUp, and the weeds became immune to the pesticide.