In an about face the Environmental Protection Agency plans to conduct a new study about the potential risks of Atrazine, a widely used weedkiller. Recent research suggest that Atrazine may be more dangerous to humans that previously thought.Atrazine is mostly used on corn fields, lawns and golf courses, but has become one of the most common contaminants found in drinking water.
The EPA will announce the new study on Wednesday, which will asses possible links between Atrazine and cancer and other health problems like prematrue births. The EPA will then determine whether new restrictions are necessary.
You might recall back in August that the NYT published an article about Atrazine in its series Toxic Waters. The Times reported recent studies that suggested that even small amounts of Atrazine in drinking water might be associated with birth defects. The Times also reported that in some U.S. towns (mostly rural towns) Atrazine levels had spiked sharply for a month in some seasons but that these spikes were not reported to regulators.
Anyway, this is great news. Atrazine is already banned in the European Union. We hope for a similar outcome in the U.S.
Photo: Blue Skies Over Corn Fields by Antean from Flickr under Creative Commons License
All this publicity on atrazine has been good and bad. I'm afraid the stories on atrazine will drive more people to give up on their public/private water supplies and revert to drinking bottled water. I see these developments as the government responding appropriately in light of new scientific information and public pressure. If this is how the new EPA is going to work, there is hope for the Clean Water Act!