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EPA is requesting comments on proposed changes to tighten atrazine regulations. Tell the EPA to ban toxic atrazine herbicide now. Use the pre-written comment or better yet, edit to make it your own. Click to take action. Even this grossly inadequate proposal is very likely to fail due to the vice grip the agrichemical industry has on the EPA. Industry is busy gathering comments on the docket against the proposed changes. We can’t stand idly by while industry ramps up the pressure to protect their bottom line. We can’t allow the EPA to sacrifice our health and over a thousand endangered species for the benefit of unethical chemical corporations.
The United States must step up and join 44 countries around the world that have banned atrazine, a very toxic herbicide with endocrine-disrupting effects so powerful that it can change male frogs into females and is linked to cancer and birth defects in people. Despite its toxicity, atrazine is still widely used on GMO and non-organic corn and soybeans, sugarcane, sorghum, macadamia nuts and other crops, and on golf courses and lawns across the U.S. Atrazine is the second most used herbicide behind glyphosate.
In 1997, Syngenta, the maker of atrazine, hired Tyrone Hayes, a notable professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at University of California, Berkeley. Professor Hayes was asked to determine the potential toxicity of atrazine. Hayes was 31 at the time, but had already published 20 papers on amphibian endocrinology. He was the world’s preeminent expert.
Hayes’ research for Syngenta showed that atrazine might impede the sexual development of frogs. That did not sit well with Syngenta so they asked him to change his data to suit their needs. But he refused. For the next 10 years, Syngenta attempted to destroy his career and harassed, stalked and threatened his family.
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In October 2003, EU regulators banned atrazine due to its unacceptable risks and new research by Tyrone Hayes. But in the same month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved atrazine’s continued use based on flawed scientific data submitted by the herbicide’s manufacturer, Syngenta. Documentation also reveals that the EPA’s decision was based on illegal, secret negotiations between the corporation and the regulatory agency.
Frogs aren’t the only species harmed by atrazine. In response to an NGO lawsuit, the EPA released a draft biological evaluation of the chemical’s impact on endangered species in November 2020. The evaluation found that atrazine is likely to harm 1,013 protected species, or 56% of all endangered plants and animals in the U.S., including the highly endangered whooping crane, California red-legged frog, and San Joaquin kit fox.
Despite its own shocking finding of harm to endangered species, the EPA re-approved the pesticide’s use for another 15 years.
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And if that wasn’t bad enough, earlier in 2020, EPA granted a request from Syngenta to suspend the monitoring of atrazine in waterways. Atrazine is known to widely contaminate U.S. surface water and contaminates 10% of America’s drinking water.
TELL the EPA to protect public health, endangered species and our environment. BAN ATRAZINE NOW.
Your comment will go directly to the EPA docket. The public comment period closes at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on Friday, October 7th. So please don’t delay. Make your voice heard.
Let's make sure our voices are louder than Syngenta's,
The GMO/Toxin Free USA Team
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