Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
The Biden administration is proposing to raise a key threshold for determining how much of a pesticide commonly used in the agricultural industry the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finds in the environment, drawing the ire of some defenders of the environment.
Currently, the agency considers an average of just 3.4 micrograms per liter of the pesticide atrazine to be an acceptable level.
But a proposal published this week raises that level to 9.7 micrograms, saying nearly three times as much of the substance is OK to be present in the environment.
According to the draft plan, actions will need to be taken to mitigate potential impacts when ambient levels exceed the 9.7 microgram level.
Lori Ann Burd, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s environmental health program, criticized the proposal.
“Atrazine is so toxic, even in microscopic amounts, and so extremely persistent, that effective mitigation is impossible,” Burd said in a written statement.
“But the EPA continues to bend over backwards to accommodate producers who insist on dousing our nation’s food, fiber and fuel with atrazine at the expense of public health and the environment,” he added.
Atrazine is used on many crops in the United States, including corn and sugar cane. this has been banned in the European Union and several other countries and it has been has been found to disrupt the endocrine system.
When the EPA previously indicated that it would be updated safety threshold for atrazine In July, the agency said it did so after reviewing 11 studies with its independent scientific advisory panel and after reevaluating two additional studies.
The Biden administration’s move is just a proposal. It’s unclear what will happen to atrazine under the incoming Trump administration. In 2020, the previous Trump administration increased the safety threshold even further — up to 15 micrograms per liter.
However, the substance has also been attacked by right-wing figures such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom President-elect Trump nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Kennedy has suggested that atrazine can cause “sex changes” in children. Experts told CNN that this is not true.
