A bit about Atrazine
by Tara Chadwick April 14, 2005
I only heard about it last year, and it sounded to me like a new type of eye wash. It turns out that Atrazine is the most used herbicide (weed killer) in the US and it is causing our men to become chemically castrated and unable to produce testosterone which leads to the production of healthy, viable sperm. In recent research from five independent sources, exposure to Atrazine causes malformations of the male reproductive organs in frogs to a degree that they are uninterested in mating behaviors and are physically unable to produce offspring.
Exposure to Atrazine in humans is highest in those who work as applicators of the chemical. In test subjects, “men who work as Atrazine applicators pass enough of the chemical through their urine to chemically castrate frogs” (Tyrone Hayes at Hubert Humphrey Lecture, April 14, 2005). They have atrazine levels at 2400 ppb, the EPA cites 3 ppb as a “safe” level, however, malformations of frogs occur at levels as low as 0.1 ppb. Farm workers are also found with high levels of Atrazine, as are people who live in areas where drinking water is at risk of being contaminated with Atrazine.
26 million pounds of Atrazine are used in the US each year. 1.2 million pounds of it flows into the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River. The remaining Atrazine falls onto the earth in the rain, trickles into the groundwater and aquifers where it persists for long periods of time (in Europe, the use of Atrazine has been banned for 14 years now, but it still persists in the aquifers). Atrazine has been measured in the rainfall of states that have outlawed the use of Atrazine.
The EPA has placed Atrazine on its list of Substances Under Review. None of the chemicals that have ever been placed on the Substances Under Review have ever been outlawed, rather, they have been phased out in time. In recent hearings in Minnesota, EPA testified that there is not sufficient evidence to warrant a ban on Atrazine, however such evidence does exist in research from independent sources from different countries ranging from1998 to 2003.
It is important to know that the company that produces Atrazine gains substantial financial profit each year from sales of the herbicide to farm companies, about 500-800 million dollars per year. Minnesota legislators are unwilling to compromise the immediate economic integrity of a system that is based on short term return potential, but then most Minnesota farmers can afford to purchase a Brita filter which filters out Atrazine successfully from drinking water. It is more likely the migrant farm laborers who are at the highest risk of skin contact with Atrazine, and who are most likely to be drinking unfiltered water from wells that are contaminated with Atrazine.
The health effects on farm workers from exposure to Atrazine and other harmful herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and fertilizers are also most likely to not be documented in scientific research, since the population of farm laborers is highly mobile across state and international borders.
The absence of research to show the effects on migrant farm workers, and the reality that farm workers are at greater risk than any other segment of the population for high levels of exposure to Atrazine is an example of an environmental justice issue. The fact that most farm workers who have high exposure rates to Atrazine are mostly indigenous or Latino people from Mexico and Central America indicates that this is an example of environmental racism.
At present, we are allowing ourselves to chemically castrate our men and boys (male infants who consume the breastmilk of women who have high exposure levels to Atrazine will develop inadequate testosterone levels similar to men who are exposed at high levels). In women, the abnormal increase in estrogen that occurs as the result of Atrazine exposure produces an increase in the occurrence of mammary tumors, which in turn have a higher risk of cancer than non-tumor tissue.
If we remain silent, we are allowing the destruction of our own bodies to continue, ensuring that there will be no future generations to walk the face of the earth. Our governing bodies, we know, are motivated by profit. We must struggle to make our voices heard, the responsibility for our future lies in our own hands, with our own minds, and in our own decisions. We can decide to do nothing, or we can decide to act, to organize, to educate, to write, to do something, anything that will move us toward a better understanding of how to achieve balance between our livelihoods, our needs, our environment and our future.
UK based Institute of Science in Society http://www.i-sis.org.uk/atrazine.php
Local Public Health Website http://www.uwsp.edu/water/portage/undrstnd/atrazine.htm\
MPR articles on recent atrazine bills in the MN legislature http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/02/04_bensonl_atrazineupdate/
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/03/17_bensonl_pesticides/
Recent article on The Science Daily http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/03/050329140114.htm
Apparent corporate sponsored “information” site http://www.atrazine-watershed.info/
