{"id":19365,"date":"2016-11-07T00:00:40","date_gmt":"2016-11-07T04:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=19365"},"modified":"2016-11-07T10:30:14","modified_gmt":"2016-11-07T14:30:14","slug":"letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/","title":{"rendered":"In Letter to EPA on Atrazine Hazards, House Republicans Challenge Science, Call the Weedkiller Safe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>(<em>Beyond Pesticides, \u00a0<\/em>November 7,<em> \u00a02016<\/em>) In a <a href=\"http:\/\/buck.house.gov\/sites\/buck.house.gov\/files\/wysiwyg_uploaded\/Final%20Atrazine%20Letter.pdf\">letter<\/a> \u00a0last week on the widely used weedkiller \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/resources\/pesticide-gateway?chemfind=atrazine\">atrazine<\/a>, Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) and 105 of his colleagues told Gina McCarthy, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that, &#8220;It would be irresponsible to greatly restrict one of the safest and most trusted herbicides on the market.&#8221; The \u00a0letter was triggered by <a href=\"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/06\/public-comment-needed-to-end-atrazine-use-after-epa-confirms-threat-to-wildlife\/\">EPA&#8217;s release in June<\/a> of its \u00a0draft \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/ingredients-used-pesticide-products\/draft-ecological-risk-assessments-triazines\">Ecological Risk Assessment<\/a> on atrazine, which found levels of concerns exceeded by as much as 200-fold for some organisms. Lawmakers indicated that the draft assessment in its present form, \u201cWould have a significant impact on farmers and rural communities nationwide.\u201d Despite a <a href=\"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2014\/01\/study-shows-eliminating-atrazine-would-improve-economic-benefits-for-farmers\/\">wealth of information to the contrary<\/a>, they claim that restricting the use of atrazine would put an unnecessary financial burden on farmers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/resources\/pesticide-gateway?pesticideid=7\">Atrazine<\/a>, produced by Syngenta, \u00a0is the second-most widely used pesticide in the U.S., with over 73 million pounds applied each year. While Rep. Buck claims that atrazine is a safe chemical, years of research shows that the chemical poses unacceptable risk<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-17187\" src=\"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Capitol-Senate-300x215.jpg\" alt=\"Capitol-Senate\" width=\"300\" height=\"215\" align=\"right\" srcset=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Capitol-Senate-300x215.jpg 300w, https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Capitol-Senate-768x551.jpg 768w, https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Capitol-Senate-1024x735.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>s to human health and the environment.  \u00a0Once applied, the chemical often washes into surface water and leaches into groundwater. Water contamination issues spurred community water utilities \u00a0across the U.S. to file a class-action lawsuit to remove the pesticide from drinking water supplies. In 2012, <a href=\"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2012\/05\/atrazine-manufacturer-to-pay-105-million-to-community-water-systems\/\">Syngenta agreed to a $105 million settlement<\/a>, reimbursing 1,085 community water utilities for the cost they incurred cleaning up the toxic herbicide.<\/p>\n<p>Under EPA drinking water standards that are deemed &#8220;safe,&#8221; atrazine has been linked to <a href=\"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/resources\/pesticide-induced-diseases-database\/endocrine-disruption\">endocrine disrupting effects<\/a>. In their letter, the GOP lawmakers state that the herbicide has been \u201cone of the most thoroughly studied herbicides.\u201d In fact, studies of atrazine have linked the pesticide to numerous adverse health effects, including <a href=\"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2015\/10\/agricultural-crop-density-linked-to-childhood-cancer-in-midwest\/\">childhood cancer<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2012\/10\/common-herbicide-may-increase-risk-of-rare-disorder-in-infants\/\">choanal atresia<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2010\/02\/herbicide-atrazine-linked-to-rare-birth-defect\/\">gastroschisis<\/a>, a rare birth defect. A 2010 \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/j.1651-2227.2008.01207.x\/abstract\">study<\/a> \u00a0led by Sarah Waller, PhD, of the University of Washington, Seattle, linked a 2- to 4-fold increase in gastroschisis (a birth defect of the abdominal wall that results in a baby&#8217;s intestines  \u00a0moving outside the body) over the past three decade to atrazine use in agriculture. Dr. Waller\u2019s group is not the first to report a link between gastroschisis-like birth defects and \u00a0atrazine exposure. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jpedsurg.org\/article\/S0022-3468(07)00056-5\/fulltext\">In 2007, Indiana researchers reported<\/a> in the Journal \u00a0<em>of Pediatric Surgery \u00a0<\/em>that in their state, where rates of such birth defects are also very high, atrazine levels were significantly linked with the rate of gastroschisis and other defects. Later in 2009, another <a href=\"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/j.1651-2227.2008.01207.x\/full\">study<\/a> published in <em>Acta Paediatrica<\/em> found similar results for the general rate of birth defects in the U.S. population. This research shows \u00a0the increased risk of nine birth defects in babies born to mothers who conceived between April and July, when surface water levels of the pesticide are highest.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.usgs.gov\/archive\/sites\/www.usgs.gov\/newsroom\/article.asp-ID=2467.html\">Atrazine is the most commonly detected pesticide in rivers, streams and wells in the United States<\/a>. This is cause for concern especially in \u00a0freshwater ecosystems that are susceptible to even the smallest amount of contaminants in their ecosystems. The study, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pnas.org\/content\/early\/2010\/02\/12\/0909519107.abstract\"><em>Atrazine induces complete feminization and chemical castration in male African clawed frogs<\/em> <em>(Xenopus laevis)<\/em><\/a>, led by Tyrone Hayes, PhD, at the University of California, Berkeley, demonstrates the reproductive consequences of atrazine exposure in adult amphibians. Dr. Hayes and other researchers examined a group of 40 African clawed frogs, all of which carried male chromosomes. In his study, tadpoles were subject to an atrazine concentration of 2.5 parts per billion, a concentration that is within federal drinking water standards. His results found that genetic male frogs exposed to atrazine concentrations in the environment developed into functioning female frogs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a chemical . . . that causes hormone havoc,\u201d Dr. Hayes commented. \u201cYou need to look at things that are affecting wildlife, and realize that, biologically, we\u2019re not that different.\u201d See Dr. Hayes talk, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WhbPDuvtIlI\">Learning from an Environmental Tragedy<\/a>, at the 33rd National Pesticide Forum.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Buck\u2019s letter also states, without citation, that the restriction of atrazine will cost farmers an additional $59 dollars per acre. However, an economic study published in 2014, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.maneyonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1179\/2049396713Y.0000000054?ai=15tui=27waf=T&amp;\"><em>Would banning atrazine benefit farmers?<\/em><\/a>, finds that farmers will save money. The research, led by Frank Ackerman, PhD, professor at Tufts University&#8217;s Global Development and Environment Institute, disputes the conclusions of a Syngenta study, which lawmakers are likely referencing in their letter. Dr. Ackerman and his colleagues critically reviewed five papers released by Syngenta\u2019s Atrazine Benefits Team (ABT) in 2011. \u00a0 Syngenta\u2019s ABT found that the removal of atrazine would diminish corn yields by 4.4% and increasing prices by 8%. Using these assumptions, Dr. Ackerman and his team calculated that <a href=\"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2014\/01\/study-shows-eliminating-atrazine-would-improve-economic-benefits-for-farmers\/\">corn growers\u2019 revenue would actually \u00a0<em>increase<\/em> \u00a0by 3.2%<\/a>, providing a total of $1.7 billion to farmers and the U.S. economy, with minimal price changes for consumers.<\/p>\n<p>The letter from Rep. Buck and his GOP colleagues criticizes EPA, stating that it is using science that the agency\u2019s own Science Advisory Panel rejected in 2012. In fact, EPA cites recent studies in the independent peer reviewed literature in its analysis. New science has replicated the findings of earlier studies going back to 2012 and before. The congressional letter appears to be a clear denial of the science on par with climate change denial.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re interested in taking action to help eliminate atrazine from use across the country, <a href=\"http:\/\/action.beyondpesticides.org\/p\/dia\/action3\/common\/public\/?action_KEY=23595\">sign Beyond Pesticides\u2019 petition to EPA calling for the cancellation of this chemical today<\/a>. Although the public comment period on the <a href=\"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/06\/public-comment-needed-to-end-atrazine-use-after-epa-confirms-threat-to-wildlife\/\">agency\u2019s draft ecological risk assessment<\/a> for atrazine is closed, stay tuned for the latest opportunity to voice your opinion directly to the agency by <a href=\"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/join\/sign-me-up\">signing up for Beyond Pesticides action alerts.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/tipsheets\/morning-agriculture\/2016\/06\/long-fight-ahead-on-atrazine-214630\">Politico \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Beyond Pesticides, \u00a0November 7, \u00a02016) In a letter \u00a0last week on the widely used weedkiller \u00a0atrazine, Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) and 105 of his colleagues told Gina McCarthy, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that, &#8220;It would be irresponsible to greatly restrict one of the safest and most trusted herbicides on the market.&#8221; The \u00a0letter was triggered by EPA&#8217;s release in June of its \u00a0draft \u00a0Ecological Risk Assessment on atrazine, which found levels of concerns exceeded by as much as 200-fold for some organisms. Lawmakers indicated that the draft assessment in its present form, \u201cWould have a significant impact on farmers and rural communities nationwide.\u201d Despite a wealth of information to the contrary, they claim that restricting the use of atrazine would put an unnecessary financial burden on farmers. Atrazine, produced by Syngenta, \u00a0is the second-most widely used pesticide in the U.S., with over 73 million pounds applied each year. While Rep. Buck claims that atrazine is a safe chemical, years of research shows that the chemical poses unacceptable risks to human health and the environment. \u00a0Once applied, the chemical often washes into surface water and leaches into groundwater. Water contamination issues spurred community water utilities \u00a0across the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[249,72,21,44,25,85,19,166],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agriculture","category-atrazine","category-chemicals","category-colorado","category-corporations","category-endocrine-disruption","category-statelocal","category-syngenta"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>In Letter to EPA on Atrazine Hazards, House Republicans Challenge Science, Call the Weedkiller Safe - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Letter to EPA on Atrazine Hazards, House Republicans Challenge Science, Call the Weedkiller Safe - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(Beyond Pesticides, \u00a0November 7, \u00a02016) In a letter \u00a0last week on the widely used weedkiller \u00a0atrazine, Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) and 105 of his colleagues told Gina McCarthy, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that, &#8220;It would be irresponsible to greatly restrict one of the safest and most trusted herbicides on the market.&#8221; The \u00a0letter was triggered by EPA&#8217;s release in June of its \u00a0draft \u00a0Ecological Risk Assessment on atrazine, which found levels of concerns exceeded by as much as 200-fold for some organisms. Lawmakers indicated that the draft assessment in its present form, \u201cWould have a significant impact on farmers and rural communities nationwide.\u201d Despite a wealth of information to the contrary, they claim that restricting the use of atrazine would put an unnecessary financial burden on farmers. Atrazine, produced by Syngenta, \u00a0is the second-most widely used pesticide in the U.S., with over 73 million pounds applied each year. While Rep. Buck claims that atrazine is a safe chemical, years of research shows that the chemical poses unacceptable risks to human health and the environment. \u00a0Once applied, the chemical often washes into surface water and leaches into groundwater. Water contamination issues spurred community water utilities \u00a0across the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-11-07T04:00:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-11-07T14:30:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Capitol-Senate-300x215.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Beyond Pesticides\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ByondPesticides\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ByondPesticides\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Beyond Pesticides\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Beyond Pesticides\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5c0a0981b549cc5b628770073031f4\"},\"headline\":\"In Letter to EPA on Atrazine Hazards, House Republicans Challenge Science, Call the Weedkiller Safe\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-07T04:00:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-11-07T14:30:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/\"},\"wordCount\":948,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Capitol-Senate-300x215.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Agriculture\",\"Atrazine\",\"Chemicals\",\"Colorado\",\"Corporations\",\"Endocrine Disruption\",\"State\/Local\",\"Syngenta\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/\",\"name\":\"In Letter to EPA on Atrazine Hazards, House Republicans Challenge Science, Call the Weedkiller Safe - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Capitol-Senate-300x215.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-07T04:00:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-11-07T14:30:14+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Capitol-Senate-300x215.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Capitol-Senate-300x215.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"In Letter to EPA on Atrazine Hazards, House Republicans Challenge Science, Call the Weedkiller Safe\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/\",\"name\":\"Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\",\"description\":\"News on Pesticide Science, Policy and Activism\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Beyond Pesticides\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BeyondPesticides-Logo-Stacked-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BeyondPesticides-Logo-Stacked-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":2501,\"caption\":\"Beyond Pesticides\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/ByondPesticides\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/beyondpesticides\/?hl=en\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/beyond-pesticides\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bpncamp\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5c0a0981b549cc5b628770073031f4\",\"name\":\"Beyond Pesticides\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26b7558fcb265e244c6e159abe5f0aab551822dc82fd0b1607e809bdfbed20a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26b7558fcb265e244c6e159abe5f0aab551822dc82fd0b1607e809bdfbed20a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Beyond Pesticides\"},\"description\":\"Beyond Pesticides is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., which works with allies in protecting public health and the environment to lead the transition to a world free of toxic pesticides. The founders, who established Beyond Pesticides (originally as National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides) as a nonprofit membership organization in 1981, felt that without the existence of such an organized, national network, local, state and national pesticide policy would become, under chemical industry pressure, increasingly unresponsive to public health and environmental concerns. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions that affect them directly. We believe decisions should not be made for us by chemical companies or by decision-makers who either do not have all of the facts or refuse to consider them. Learn more about our work, read A Year in Review\u20142021, our accomplishments are your victories! Beyond Pesticides seeks to protect healthy air, water, land, and food for ourselves and future generations. By forging ties with governments, nonprofits, and people who rely on these natural resources, we reduce the need for unnecessary pesticide use and protect public health and the environment. Beyond Pesticides provides hands-on services to the public and supports local action by: identifying and interpreting hazards; and, designing safe pest management programs. With the information provided by Beyond Pesticides, people may not only be able to make informed choices and adopt practices that protect themselves and their families from unnecessary exposure to pesticides, but they will be able to effect changes on community-wide pest management decisions and policies that govern pesticide use, such as pesticide uses in parks, schools, for community insect control and along roadsides. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions which affect them directly.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/beyondpesticides\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/beyond-pesticides\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/ByondPesticides\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bpncamp\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/author\/beyond-pesticides\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In Letter to EPA on Atrazine Hazards, House Republicans Challenge Science, Call the Weedkiller Safe - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In Letter to EPA on Atrazine Hazards, House Republicans Challenge Science, Call the Weedkiller Safe - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","og_description":"(Beyond Pesticides, \u00a0November 7, \u00a02016) In a letter \u00a0last week on the widely used weedkiller \u00a0atrazine, Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) and 105 of his colleagues told Gina McCarthy, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that, &#8220;It would be irresponsible to greatly restrict one of the safest and most trusted herbicides on the market.&#8221; The \u00a0letter was triggered by EPA&#8217;s release in June of its \u00a0draft \u00a0Ecological Risk Assessment on atrazine, which found levels of concerns exceeded by as much as 200-fold for some organisms. Lawmakers indicated that the draft assessment in its present form, \u201cWould have a significant impact on farmers and rural communities nationwide.\u201d Despite a wealth of information to the contrary, they claim that restricting the use of atrazine would put an unnecessary financial burden on farmers. Atrazine, produced by Syngenta, \u00a0is the second-most widely used pesticide in the U.S., with over 73 million pounds applied each year. While Rep. Buck claims that atrazine is a safe chemical, years of research shows that the chemical poses unacceptable risks to human health and the environment. \u00a0Once applied, the chemical often washes into surface water and leaches into groundwater. Water contamination issues spurred community water utilities \u00a0across the [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/","og_site_name":"Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\/","article_published_time":"2016-11-07T04:00:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-11-07T14:30:14+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Capitol-Senate-300x215.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Beyond Pesticides","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ByondPesticides","twitter_site":"@ByondPesticides","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Beyond Pesticides","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/"},"author":{"name":"Beyond Pesticides","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5c0a0981b549cc5b628770073031f4"},"headline":"In Letter to EPA on Atrazine Hazards, House Republicans Challenge Science, Call the Weedkiller Safe","datePublished":"2016-11-07T04:00:40+00:00","dateModified":"2016-11-07T14:30:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/"},"wordCount":948,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Capitol-Senate-300x215.jpg","articleSection":["Agriculture","Atrazine","Chemicals","Colorado","Corporations","Endocrine Disruption","State\/Local","Syngenta"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/","name":"In Letter to EPA on Atrazine Hazards, House Republicans Challenge Science, Call the Weedkiller Safe - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Capitol-Senate-300x215.jpg","datePublished":"2016-11-07T04:00:40+00:00","dateModified":"2016-11-07T14:30:14+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Capitol-Senate-300x215.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Capitol-Senate-300x215.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2016\/11\/letter-epa-atrazine-hazards-house-republicans-challenge-science-call-weedkiller-safe\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In Letter to EPA on Atrazine Hazards, House Republicans Challenge Science, Call the Weedkiller Safe"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/","name":"Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","description":"News on Pesticide Science, Policy and Activism","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization","name":"Beyond Pesticides","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BeyondPesticides-Logo-Stacked-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BeyondPesticides-Logo-Stacked-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":2501,"caption":"Beyond Pesticides"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides","https:\/\/x.com\/ByondPesticides","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/beyondpesticides\/?hl=en","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/beyond-pesticides","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bpncamp"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5c0a0981b549cc5b628770073031f4","name":"Beyond Pesticides","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26b7558fcb265e244c6e159abe5f0aab551822dc82fd0b1607e809bdfbed20a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26b7558fcb265e244c6e159abe5f0aab551822dc82fd0b1607e809bdfbed20a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Beyond Pesticides"},"description":"Beyond Pesticides is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., which works with allies in protecting public health and the environment to lead the transition to a world free of toxic pesticides. The founders, who established Beyond Pesticides (originally as National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides) as a nonprofit membership organization in 1981, felt that without the existence of such an organized, national network, local, state and national pesticide policy would become, under chemical industry pressure, increasingly unresponsive to public health and environmental concerns. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions that affect them directly. We believe decisions should not be made for us by chemical companies or by decision-makers who either do not have all of the facts or refuse to consider them. Learn more about our work, read A Year in Review\u20142021, our accomplishments are your victories! Beyond Pesticides seeks to protect healthy air, water, land, and food for ourselves and future generations. By forging ties with governments, nonprofits, and people who rely on these natural resources, we reduce the need for unnecessary pesticide use and protect public health and the environment. Beyond Pesticides provides hands-on services to the public and supports local action by: identifying and interpreting hazards; and, designing safe pest management programs. With the information provided by Beyond Pesticides, people may not only be able to make informed choices and adopt practices that protect themselves and their families from unnecessary exposure to pesticides, but they will be able to effect changes on community-wide pest management decisions and policies that govern pesticide use, such as pesticide uses in parks, schools, for community insect control and along roadsides. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions which affect them directly.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/beyondpesticides\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/beyond-pesticides\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ByondPesticides","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bpncamp\/"],"url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/author\/beyond-pesticides\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19365"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19382,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19365\/revisions\/19382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}