Notable Atrazine Quotes
What Regulators and Experts Say About Atrazine.
“It is expected that the use of atrazine, consistent with good plant protection practice, will not have any harmful effects on human or animal health or any unacceptable effects on the environment.”
Comment from a science review conducted for the European Union
Scientific Committee on Plants, United Kingdom, 1996
Atrazine is deemed “not classifiable as to carcinogenicity to humans,” placing it in the same cancer risk category as substances such as tea, rubbing alcohol and talc.
World Health Organization,
International Agency for Research on Cancer, 1998
“EPA concludes that atrazine is ‘not likely to be a human carcinogen.’”
US Environmental Protection Agency
Revised Atrazine Interim Re-registration Eligibility Decision, October 31, 2003
“…the epidemiological data provided support for the absence of a carcinogenic potential for atrazine.”
Australian Pesticides & Veterinary Medicines Authority, 2004
“These and other additional analysis did not support a finding of association between prostate cancer and atrazine exposure.”
US EPA, 2004, in evaluating a study conducted with workers at an atrazine manufacturing plant.
“We found no associations between cancer incidence and atrazine exposure….” Other studies showed no associations between atrazine exposure and specifically breast and prostate cancer.
Agricultural Health Study, 2003, 2004 and 2005 Conducted by National Cancer Institute, University of Iowa, Centers for Public Health Research & Evaluation, US EPA, National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, IMS Inc.
“The Meeting concluded that atrazine is not likely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans.”
“Pesticide residues in food 2007″ Report of the Joint Meeting of the FAO Panel of Experts on Pesticide Residues in Food and the Environment and the WHO Core Assessment Group on Pesticide Residues, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-27 September 2007
“The APVMA has not seen any direct evidence that current uses of atrazine pose a risk to human health. Indeed, extensive studies in laboratory animals show that there are no effects on health or reproduction in mammals maintained on drinking water containing atrazine and related compounds at low levels. Even at concentrations up to 100 times the levels that can sometimes be found in groundwater in the USA, laboratory test results indicate there were no toxic effects on the animals, their progeny or their ability to reproduce.”
Australian Pesticides & Veterinary Medicines Authority, Final Review Report & Regulatory Decision,
Volume 1, 2008
“…published epidemiological data provide no support for the carcinogenicity potential of atrazine…it is unlikely that atrazine is an endocrine disruptor in humans.”
Australian Pesticides & Veterinary Medicines Authority, Final Review Report & Regulatory Decision,
Volume 2, 2008
What Growers Say About Atrazine.
Ken McCauley, White Cloud, Kansas
“Environmental activists would like you to believe that farmers don’t need atrazine, so we might as well get rid of it. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only is it important to our growers’ bottom lines, it is vital to the practices we use to protect the environment The NRDC says we can use another chemical, but ask NRDC what chemicals they do approve of.”
Greg Shelor, Minneola, Kansas
“I can’t no-till without atrazine. With no-till there is not near the runoff and without no-till I will have 50 or 60 bushel sorghum instead of the 100 to 120 bushels I have now.”
Ron Litterer, Greene, Iowa
“For me atrazine is an enhancer for weed control. Years ago, my dad used it as his sole product. Now we use much lower rates and have better weed control. As an enhancer, atrazine has allowed us to reduce the rates of other chemicals and has made them more effective.”
James Vorderstrasse, Hebron, Nebraska
“There is no alternative to atrazine. Every time you till the soil, you lose an inch of moisture. Without atrazine, you’d have to till two or three times pre-plant plus cultivate a couple of times and that amounts to a loss of 5 inches of moisture.”
Fred Yoder, Plain City, Ohio
“I’m trying to remember if we have ever grown corn without atrazine. It’s been around such a long time. But does that mean we need to look at something else? I don’t think so,” he said.
