It s the nation s most heavilyused weed killer - a favorite among corn farmers, especially those in northwest Ohio.
What farmers like best about atrazine is that it s affordable and very effective at killing weeds and quack grass in their fields. Without it, they fear the bountiful sight of those tall, thick, and seemingly endless rows of healthy green corn stalks might fade from the vista along Midwestern highways during later summer drives.
There s more than mere aesthetics at stake: Take atrazine away and Ohio s agricultural industry would be dealt a $900 million blow in corn losses, Joe Cornely, Ohio Farm Bureau spokesman, said.
But farmers, landscapers, and other atrazine users nationwide are facing the prospect of restrictions -if not an outright ban - on the herbicide s use, depending on the outcome of pending litigation.
The Washington-based Natural Resources Defense Council sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in August for not being more aggressive about curtailing atrazine s use nationally.
The NRDC claims the government violated the Endangered Species Act by letting to much atrazine get into water supplies used by some endangered species.
Aaron Colangelo, NRDC attorney, said a Pacific Northwest salmon ruling issued in January could bolster the group s case. A federal judge ordered cutbacks on pesticides near salmon-bearing rivers and streams.
“It s an important decision, because our case is very similar. The legal theories are identical,” Mr. Colangelo said. “We re not looking for a total ban [on atrazine], but we re looking for some type of [greater] restrictions.”
Twenty-three industry groups have signed on to help defend the EPA from the NRDC s atrazine lawsuit.
Although atrazine is not classified as a carcinogen, the EPA acknowledges that overexposure to it through drinking water contamination and other sources can lead to a slew of health problems. Those include hormonal imbalances, and a variety of problems related to reproduction, birth, and early childhood development, Mr. Deegan said.
America uses 76.4 million pounds of atrazine on its farms, golf courses, and even some lawns each year. Corn production is by far the biggest use for it, accounting for 86 percent of the total, according to EPA figures.
First registered by the government on Dec. 1, 1958, atrazine is one of many old pesticides and herbicides the EPA is supposed to put through a rigorous safety review every 10 years to see how the latest science may affect the agency s understanding of such chemical products.
The EPA last year re-certified atrazine as a “restricted-use” herbicide.
That means it can t be applied willy-nilly: It can only be sold to specially-trained, licensed people. They are the only ones allowed by law to apply it to land - in set amounts, and only for specific crops or uses.
Its potency is such that it can only be applied to a limited number of crops, such as corn, sugar cane, sorghum, guava, hay, and pasture grass, said EPA spokesman Dave Deegan.
The EPA has been taking a hard look at data generated by researchers from eight universities which suggests frogs exposed to atrazine - even at low levels - developed sexual deformities.
One such study, performed at the University of California at Berkeley and reported in a national Academy of Sciences publication, found that male frogs developed female characteristics when exposed at levels lower than what s allowed for humans to consume in drinking water.
At the U.S.-Canada International Joint Commission s biennial in Milwaukee in 1999, a federal scientist who has spent years studying air pollution in the Great Lakes region said some atrazine volatilizes into the atmosphere and travels 300 to 600 miles.
Dr. Mark Cohen, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration s air resources laboratory in Silver Spring, Md., said New York sometimes has an atrazine level in its air higher than the national drinking water standard, potentially because of what becomes airborne in the Midwest.
Seneca County s Brian Snavely sometimes finds himself wearing two hats in the atrazine debate.
Since 1988, he has helped his father grow corn, soy beans, and wheat on 1,600 acres near Republic, Ohio. He loves what atrazine does for them. “It s a very good product and it s very economical,” he said.
But Mr. Snavely, a former president of the Seneca County Farm Bureau, also is a member of the Seneca County Soil and Water Conservation District s board. “I live in the same area I pull my drinking water from and I certainly don t want to pollute my drinking water,” he said.
Mr. Cornely had a simple answer when asked why the Ohio Farm Bureau supports atrazine: “Because it works and because it s inexpensive.” He added that there are few alternatives and none nearly as affordable.
“If there is scientific evidence that farmers are contaminating the land, I don t think anyone would be opposed to doing something different,” Mr. Snavely said.
First Published February 22, 2004, 7:15 p.m.
