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EPA reviews new science on atrazine; WI ban proposed
Feb. 16, 2010
Last week, EPAs Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) met for the first time to review recent research on the fetal risks of atrazine. In Spring 2009, two studies were released linking atrazine to higher rates of birth defects and low birth weight. And last week, a new University of Washington study linked fetal exposure to atrazine (via contaminated drinking water) to gastrioschisis, a particular type of abdominal wall birth defect wherein intestines or other organs develop outside the fetal abdomen. University of Washington researchers cross-referenced U.S. Geological Survey data on high levels of surface water contamination by atrazine with 805 cases of birth defects and found mothers who lived less than 25 miles from locations with high contamination rates were more likely to give birth to babies with gastrioschisis. Rates of gastrioschisis have increased two- to four-fold in the last 30 years. First approved in 1958, atrazine has been in wide use for decades, and is found more frequently than any other pesticide in U.S. drinking water - in 71% of samples according to USDA data.
According to Science News, the SAP reviewed five studies, including last springs studies. Aaron Niman, an EPA scientist sitting on the panel, described the Ochoa-Acuna research linking atrazine to low birth weight as "probably the strongest of the studies" because it included individual atrazine-exposure estimates, water contamination data spanning many years, and established birth weights from state registries. Tim Pastoor, principal scientist for Syngenta - the primary producer of atrazine for the U.S. - claimed that "the studies that Niman reviewed all have fundamental flaws". "Indeed, he noted in a prepared statement, the same uptick in birth defects in spring months is seen throughout the United States, regardless of atrazine usage." U.C. Berkeley atrazine researcher Tyrone Hayes responded that atrazines persistence allows it to move long distances: "USGS can measure atrazine in the rainwater in Minnesota that was applied in Kansas." Meanwhile, Wisconsin state representative Gary Heble of Sun Prairie has introduced a bill to ban the use of atrazine in the state.
Source: PAN news
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