EPA panel for atrazine review scheduled for next week

Beginning Sept. 14, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will hold a Scientific Advisory Panel for a reevaluation of the herbicide atrazine. For four days, academic, industry and government experts, along with representatives of stakeholder groups, will again address the EPA committee with information on the safe and important herbicide atrazine.

The most studied herbicide in the world, with more than 6,000 studies on record, atrazine is already supported as a safe crop protectant by years of credible, scientific research. Activist claims on the herbicide have triggered the reevaluation.

During the public comment portion of the hearings, scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 15, Triazine Network chairman and Kansas Corn executive director Jere White will speak on behalf of the growers who depend upon atrazine to help fight herbicide-resistant weeds. "Currently, atrazine is applied on more than half of all U.S. corn acres, two-thirds of sorghum acres and nearly 90% of all U.S. sugar cane acres," White said. "Mixed with another herbicide, atrazine enhances the performance of the original product and helps to control a variety of herbicide-resistant weeds. With positive safety reviews on record by the EPA, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the World Health Organization, this important chemical has a proven safety record."