The Ag Minute: EPA Strikes at Atrazine

The Ag Minute: EPA Strikes at Crop Protection Tool for Farmers

By Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) – 08/17/10 04:14 PM ET

WASHINGTON – This week during The Ag Minute, guest host Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, discusses how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has initiated an unprecedented re-review of a critically important pesticide, which threatens its continued availability to farmers and ranchers. Atrazine is a pesticide that has been used safely and effectively for more than 50 years. Banning the use of atrazine could cost between 21,000 and 48,000 jobs from corn production losses alone, according to University of Chicago economist Don L. Coursey.

The transcript is below.

“No one cares more about the environment than the farmers and ranchers of America. After all the land allows our farmers and ranchers to feed, educate and clothe their families and neighbors.

“Everyone agrees that we need to be wise in the use of technology. All farmers ask is that the regulatory process be transparent, fair and based on science.

“Somehow, the regulatory review process in Washington has—of late—been anything but transparent, fair and based on science. It appears that activist agendas are beginning to distort that review process.

“A good example of this is atrazine — an herbicide that has been used safely and effectively by farmers across Missouri. In use for more than 50 years, atrazine was reapproved for use by the EPA in 2006 after a twelve year exhaustive and transparent review of more than 6000 research studies. The review, undertaken by two separate administrations, concluded that atrazine is safe with regard to human health, animal health, and the environment.

Read the rest of this post from The Hill here.