US group suggest to phase out herbicide atrazine

Federal monitoring of a commonly used herbicide in corn production is inadequate, and the government should phase out use of the chemical, an environmental group says in a report.

The National Resources Defense Council, or NRDC, said the herbicide atrazine has consistently been found above the Environmental Protection Agencys allowable average threshold of three parts per billion in drinking water.

The contamination is most pervasive in the U.S. Midwest and South. The watersheds with the most contamination are in Nebraska, Missouri and Indiana, the NRDC said.

Atrazine is a weed-killer used for corn production, as well as sorghum, sugarcane and lawns. The chemical has been shown to cause harm to "sensitive wildlife species," including frogs, according to the NRDC. Its use is banned in the European Union,
The NRDC said the EPAs monitoring program is "not apt to find the most troubling results," as it is not designed to account for variations in atrazine levels, such as after a rain storm.

Of greatest concern are spikes in the herbicide level, the NRDC said. It said that of 40 watersheds that were monitored, nine had at least one sample showing atrazine levels above 50 parts per billion. Also, three of the 139 water systems tested had running annual averages in tap water that exceeded the three parts- per-billion drinking standard.

The NRDC asserts that atrazine use provides only minimal benefits to farmers and that the USDA estimates a bank on atrazine would result in crop losses of just 1.19%.

The report recommends the government phase out atrazine for all uses, including home gardens and golf courses. It also says that farmers should rely instead on crop rotation, the use of winter cover crops, alternating rows of different crops and tilling.

But Syngenta (SYT), maker of atrazine, says on its Web site that concentrations in tap water declined significantly between 1994 and 2006 at 103 frequently monitored sites, thanks in large part to improved farmer practices.

In 2008, "none of the 122 Community Water Systems monitored in 10 states exceeded the federal standards set for atrazine in drinking water or raw water," Syngenta says on its Web site.