pic courtesy of Tom Brakefield / Stockbyte / Thinkstock
The EPA is taking steps toward censor the popular herbicide atrazine , a known endocrine disruptor .
The chemical — most normally found in American groundwater and is the second most popular weed killer in the U.S. — was banish in Europe in 2004 because of its harmful property . Traces of atrazine still stay in France even though it was last used there 15 years ago .
The Switzerland agrochemical company Syngenta produce atrazine and sell 80 million pounds of it to the United States annually . Americanfarmersrely on the pesticide tocombat weed growthin theircorn , sorghumand sugar cane field of battle , and it is also put on to lawns and golf courses .
But not all of the atrazine stays in the ground . Once sprayed , more than a one-half million pounds of atrazine are span up into the wind and come back in the form of pelting and snowfall .
Studies done on male frogs have show that atrazine in concentrations of 2.5 parts per billion disrupts the endocrine system , extend to immunosuppression and hermaphrodism . Among Pisces , scientists have found that atrazine affects the reproductive summons . In humans , findings point to the connectedness it may have with cancer . The U.S. Geological Survey , the University of California at Berkeley and the University of South Florida have all published news report on the harmful effects of atrazine .
booster of non-profit-making organizations preserve the Frogs , Natural Resources Defense Council and Center for Biological Diversity sign the petition .
“ Atrazine is the twenty-first one C ’s DDT , ” says Save the Frogs Founder and Executive Director Kerry Kriger . The organization ’s missionary post is to fight amphibious vehicle , whose extinction rates have been rising at high rates . Save the Frogs conduce 10,000 signature and is the group behind the request for the EPA ’s Notice of Availability . “Now that we have the EPA ’s attention , we are a orotund step closer towards protect our nutrient supply , ourdrinking waterand our wildlife from this known internal secretion disruptor , ” Kriger enounce .
“ However , only a few percentage of Americans have ever heard of atrazine , so elicit awareness of the issue is critical if we are to overcome the lobbying power of the billion - dollar agro - chemical giant . ”
Those who want to comment on this issue must do so by November 14 via the on-line site , mail or delivered balance . elaborated information on the petition can be find on theFederal Registerwebsite .
Syngenta , which earned more than $ 11 billion last year , currently ranks as no . 1 in the list of the mankind ’s biggest pesticide troupe .
