Atrazine a hazard to citizens, environment

It seems an anomaly that a Swiss company would be barred from selling its products in Switzerland. But this is indeed the case for Syngenta, a European agribusiness that manufactures the herbicide atrazine. Atrazine has been banned in the entire European Union due to health concerns, so where does Syngenta turn to sell its product? The United States, of course.

Atrazine is the second-most-used herbicide in the United States, following Dow Chemical Company's RoundUp. Syngenta's website maintains that atrazine is "one of the most effective, affordable and trusted products in agriculture today." The company claims that atrazine "boosts U.S. corn output by 600 million bushels per year." This all sounds well and good, until you look at the herbicide's dark side.

For starters, atrazine is a potent endocrine disruptor. In tests performed on frogs, atrazine shrunk male specimens' voice boxes. The chemical also deformed reproductive organs, turning many frogs into hermaphrodites. Many of the frogs possessed more than two testes and ovaries. Numerous tests on these frogs caused males to produce eggs instead of sperm. Some of the frogs literally changed sexes completely, losing their male organs and growing ovaries. Deformities occurred in frogs which were exposed to as little as 0.1 parts per billion (ppb) of atrazine. To put that in perspective, that's 30 times smaller than the EPA's limit of three ppb allowed in drinking water.

But frogs are frogs, right? Surely the same chemical that harms a frog's genitalia wouldn't endanger a human's­—s­­o Syngenta would like us to think. However, humans and frogs rely on similarly structured endocrine systems. And while the EPA claims that levels lower than three ppb of atrazine won't harm humans, our hormones often operate at parts per trillion (ppt). In fact, it only took exposure to 2.5 ppb of atrazine for one frog to make the switch from male to female. What this means is that miniscule levels of atrazine could impose detrimental consequences upon our bodies.

One 2009 study, published in the journal Acta Paediatrica, has already found that birth defects in the United States "were highest for women who conceived during months when atrazine levels were spiking," according to the Huffington Post. Other studies have linked the chemical to premature births and low birth weights in infants.

Endocrine disruptors like atrazine are particularly harmful to fetuses still developing in the womb, and the deformities they engender in our reproductive systems have the potential to lead to sterility.

Amplifying the problem is the fact that atrazine is used on half of the United States' corn supply and over 90 percent of its sugarcane. Such widespread use is beyond alarming, especially considering that large amounts of the herbicide are used in 44 states. Overall, 80 million pounds of the chemical are used in the United States each year.

The effects of such extensive application of an agricultural chemical are hardly surprising. Atrazine is now the most common pesticide contaminant of groundwater and surface water in the United States. It is carried in rainfall, and can migrate up to 600 miles from its point of application—meaning that formerly clean water sources can become easily contaminated. Furthermore, atrazine persists in the environment long after it has been used; it is still found in groundwater in France, years after it was banned.

A 2009 report by the Huffington Post Investigative Fund documents that more than 40 water systems in four states (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kansas) showed concentrations of atrazine over 12 ppb. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) never notified the public of these concentrations, and actively tried to cover up the levels of atrazine found. In one watershed in the Midwest, atrazine was recorded at 54 ppb. According to a 2009 New York Times article, there is atrazine in the drinking water of 33 million Americans.

In fact, a 2003 article in the Poughkeepsie Journal reported that Poughkeepsie's water supply contained atrazine. Poughkeepsie's Water Treatment Facility disputes this claim, saying that it tests annually for atrazine and has never found the chemical in the water supply.

Despite massive amounts of atrazine contamination nationwide, the EPA hasn't been willing to take action against atrazine exposure. In fact, it has gone to great lengths to protect Syngenta and deny that atrazine has any negative health effects. In evaluating the toxicity of the chemical, EPA officials met with Syngenta representatives over 40 times, and half of the agency's studies were led by scientists who had a financial stake in the chemical.

Chemical castration and birth defects are serious issues. No company should have the right to fundamentally alter human beings' hormonal systems, and atrazine is all the more frightening because of its potential to impair the fertility of all who are exposed to it. It affects not only millions of people today, but possibly millions yet unborn. If the chemical goes unchecked, it—along with hundreds of other endocrine disruptors—could hamper human reproductive rates and cause crippling deformities in our sexual makeup for years to come.

As the EPA is currently undergoing a new review of atrazine, it should sever itself from Syngenta and follow in the footsteps of the European Union in enacting a full ban of the herbicide. Yes, banning a chemical is a serious undertaking. The EPA would face a backlash not only from Syngenta, but from agribusinesses and their Congressional allies as well. But when the health of millions of American citizens is at risk—and indeed, our reproductive future as well—banning atrazine is a step that must be taken.

—Gabe Dunsmith '15 is a member of the Vassar Greens.